


The Lonely Heart of Creation

by TransientPokemonMaster



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (relatively quickly), A little, A sad, Adrinette, Aged Up, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alya is pushy, Bisexual Disaster Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Canon?, Chapter 6 gets, DJWifi, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette is an old lady, Mild Gore, Mutual Pining, Nino knows all, POV Multiple, Peacock Nathalie Sancoeur | Mayura, Rabbit Alix Kubdel | Bunnyx, Romance, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!, Turtle Nino Lahiffe | Carapace, What Canon?, brokenhearted, gory, lonely, old lady - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:13:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 86,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22111624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransientPokemonMaster/pseuds/TransientPokemonMaster
Summary: Soulmate au in which people grow to eighteen and cease aging until they've met their soulmate.History remembers Ladybug and the wielder of the Black Cat miraculous as heroes spotted the world over. For as long as there has been a written record, so too have they existed.But while there have been countless Black Cats, there has only been Marinette to hold the Ladybug. With countless years behind her, she has yet to find a soulmate, and no longer believes she has one.An ageless oddity, Marinette has traversed the world, helping where she can, and fruitlessly loving those who inevitably find their mates.Can a handsome fashion mogul, and a new Black Cat wielder be the answer to a question she's ceased asking?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Alix Kubdel
Comments: 375
Kudos: 665





	1. Tick Tock

**Author's Note:**

> This idea actually started because of [this](https://miraculousmumma.tumblr.com/post/189437027451/inkshila-flashflashitsash-lyramae-archer/) Tumblr post. The idea was all Miraculousmumma's, but I couldn't help but take it and write my own take on it! So I hope ya'll enjoy ^.^

The elevator doors opened on the third floor of Alya and Nino's apartment building. Marinette carefully balanced a box of pastries from Tom and Sabine in one hand, and a cardboard drink carrier with four coffees in the other. Nino had requested an extra coffee, 'for a friend.' Though she was sure this was going to be yet another lame attempt by Alya to set her up with someone. 

Marinette had long since given up trying to stop her friend from doing it though. Alya was certain that eventually, she could help Marinette find her soulmate. And maybe she could. In all of her life, Alya was one of the most determined people she had ever met. 

Alya and Nino had apparently met in middle school. They were both in their late-twenties and actually looked their ages. Without almost any effort, the two had found one another.

But after nearly ten millennia alone, Marinette had completely lost faith that her soulmate existed. 

Or… was it eleven millennia? 

It was hard to keep track when recorded history only went back about six thousand years. And her memory wasn't the best either. The only constant in her life in all that time had been her kwami, Tikki, who was currently curled up in her handbag sleeping.

She and Tikki had a long running joke that they were reverse soulmates, destined to spend eternity together.

Of course, Alya and Nino thought she was no older than thirty, and she hadn't been inclined to correct them. The only ones who knew how old Marinette really was, were Tikki, Tom, and Sabine. 

She let out a breath and knocked on the door. It didn't take long for Alya to answer, and she yanked the door open, taking the coffee in one hand and pulling Marinette into a side-hug with the other. "Morning, Girl!" She kissed her nearest cheek, "thank you for bringing breakfast!"

"Of course," Marinette grinned as Alya released her. "I always do." 

Tom and Sabine always made sure to send her with a batch of fresh pastries whenever she went to see her friends. They were the best adoptive parents she could have asked for. Nevermind the fact that they were infants in her eyes. But it was nice, playing the part nonetheless. 

Alya shot her a theatrical look of hurt. "I've brought you breakfast!"

"Once," Marinette deadpanned. 

"Shhhh," Alya hissed. "We're pretending I'm a better friend than that!"

Rolling hey eyes, Marinette handed off the box of pastries. Once they were squarely in Alya's hands, she exclaimed, "oh my gosh, Alya! Thank you so much for getting us all breakfast!" She gasped in fake awe. 

Alya grinned, "it's the least I can do for my best friend slash co-worker!" 

"Yo!" Nino called from the living room, "do we actually get to eat or what?"

"Come on," Alya laughed. 

Rounding the corner, Marinette spotted Nino in an armchair facing them. Another person sat across from him on the couch with their back to them. Nino waved and got up to help Alya with the food and coffee. Marinette had just registered neatly groomed blond hair and a white collared shirt before he stood to face them. 

As the stranger rose and turned, Marinette couldn't help but stare at him. He had gorgeous green eyes, and soft gentle features with high cheekbones and a smile with enough warmth to kindle her long neglected fantasies of cuddling up to someone after a long day. 

He looked familiar, though from where, she couldn't say. 

Forgetting to stop staring, Marinette ran into Alya. 

Thankfully she had already handed off the box and drinks to Nino as the two of them collided. They very nearly went sprawling, but luckily the handsome stranger lunged and caught them both just in time. 

As they righted themselves, Alya turned and shot her a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. 

Marinette rolled her eyes at her. Of course she was trying to set her up again. 

"Are you okay?" Stranger asked in a tone that bled concern. 

Marinette's head bobbed once in reply, "yeah. You're fine." 

Next to her, Alya snorted. 

"Er-me! I'm good! Great even!" Butterflies danced in her stomach like she hadn't felt in several centuries. 

Not since Italy. 

She took a breath, hoping to get herself together. She had decided a long time ago that she wouldn't let herself love again. It only ever led to heartbreak. The people she loved, her partners, they all eventually found their soulmates, and they were _never_ her. 

Stranger boy giggled, _actually fucking **giggled!**_ He extended a hand to her, "I'm Adrien." The warmth in his eyes made her heart feel like she was about to go into cardiac arrest. 

Taking his hand, Marinette smiled, feeling her cheeks warm as they shook. "I'm Marinette." Her voice was hushed as she mumbled her name.

An apricot danish waved in front of her face and Marinette followed it until she found Alya on its opposite end, grinning. "Here, Girl. Drool on this instead." 

Eyes widening into saucers, Marinette swiped the pastry from her friend's grasp. "Alya!" She stressed through clenched teeth. 

"Here, dude." Nino tapped Adrien's shoulder to give him his coffee and a pain au chocolat. Thankfully he turned and started talking animatedly to Nino. 

She had to get control of herself. Marinette was several millennia old. She had seen empires rise and fall for god's sake! Hell, she'd even helped found a few! She'd seen gorgeous people all over the globe, and hadn't come off as such a complete basketcase! 

Turning a glare on Alya, who innocently sipped her coffee, Marinette hissed, "he's _way_ out of my league!"

Alya cackled, "I didn't do anything! He's just Nino's friend." She shrugged, "if I had known that was your type, I'd have found you someone by now!" She winked.

"Mhmm," Marinette hummed skeptically. "Then why haven't I met him in all the time I've known you guys?"

Sipping her coffee Alya shrugged as she palmed a croissant. "He's a workaholic." 

"Workaholic my ass," Marinette muttered. 

The four of them sat down, munching on pastries and drinking their coffee in relative silence. Finally, after his third flaky treat, Adrien turned to Marinette while wiping his fingers with a napkin. 

"So, Marinette? Alya tells me you're a fashion designer." To his credit, he looked genuinely interested. 

Shooting Alya a dry look, she swallowed the last of a croissant. She nodded, "it was what I went to school for."

This time at least. Marinette held degrees in history, biology, literature, and several other disciplines.

But something about modern fashion had caught her interest and she had spent the last couple of decades learning the art of design. "I dabble here and there, but it's mostly just a hobby." Marinette shrugged. 

Adrien laughed lightly into his palm. "From what I've seen of your column, you"re an impressive dabbler. You really create most of the designs yourself?" 

“Yeah…” Her cheeks began to warm and she unconsciously chewed on her bottom lip. "You've uh… you've read my column?" 

Marinette worked for a Magazine company with Alya. She wrote, organized, and shot a weekly fashion editorial. That column, and Alya’s single-minded determination were the reasons they had become friends in the first place. Originally, a publication had seemed a lowkey enough place to work that she could fly under the radar without attracting too much attention. 

But somehow, Alya had zeroed in on her and worn her down until they were hanging out regularly. Now, Marinette came by their apartment three times a week with breakfast and they just… spent time together. Like that, five years had passed in the blink of an eye, and she had friends for the first time in a really, really long time. 

Being as old as she was, having friends always led to heartbreak. She’d buried more friends than she could count, and did her best to avoid making them. But a couple of generations without close connections, and before she knew it, she was lonely and seeking human contact once again. 

Nodding, Adrien replied enthusiastically, “I love your work!” He shook his head, chuckling. “Honestly, I don’t understand why you don’t work for an industry publication. I think the fashion world could use someone with your photographic eye and design style.” He looked thoughtful, and sounded genuinely starstruck, which actually made Marinette a little uncomfortable. 

She did her best to hide away from the world as Marinette, and leave the fanfare to Ladybug. 

Adrien continued, “if I’m being honest, I purchased a subscription to _Paris-Soir_ specifically to see your weekly editorial. There’s something very eclectic about your designs, and they draw me back to bygone eras, but with modern flare that is frankly breathtaking.” His eyes seemed to sparkle with passion for the field. It was almost as if he knew what he was talking about.

Swallowing, Marinette did her best to pick her jaw up off the floor. “Uh- well- I um…” she gaped, “ _thank you._ ” No one had ever so blatantly praised her work before. Especially not someone who she found so incredibly attractive. But then, she also wasn’t going out of her way to look for recognition. She shrugged, “It’s just… a hobby.”

Rolling his eyes, Adrien grinned. “Well, your hobby is incredible. Though, I have to admit. My being here is somewhat of a selfish errand.” He reached into his pocket, producing a business card that was black with white columns on either side, and gold lettering that ran down the center. “I was hoping I could interest you in a job.”

Eyes flicking from Alya, to Nino, to Adrien, to the card, back to Alya, then the card, and again at Adrien’s face, Marinette finally took the card with numb fingers. The material felt thick, and smooth, and she could tell that someone had paid far too much money for it. It read;

_  
_

Gabriel Fashion House  
CEO Adrien Agreste  
2 Rue de Buenos Aires  
75007 Paris, France

_  
_

She had to read the card four more times before it finally sank in that she was sitting with _the_ Adrien Agreste. Marinette realized her mouth was hanging open only when her teeth began to register the cold dry air of her breath. She licked her lips and looked back up at Adrien _fucking_ Agreste and her mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish. Finally she looked to Nino and Alya, “how the _hell_ do you two know _him_?”

The three of them burst out laughing, as though this were all some sort of horrible practical joke that Marinette was at the butt end of. Nino was the first to reply, “I’ve known Adrien only a couple days longer than I’ve known Alya, ‘Nette!” He grinned, “He’s my best friend,” he shot the handsome fashion mogul a wry grin, “even if I never see the fucker these days.”

Adrien shrugged nonchalantly, “you get me a couple of times a month, which is more than I can say for most people.” 

Beaming proudly at her, Alya wiped a tear from her eye. “Nino actually caught Adrien looking through your article last week and mentioned that he knew you.” She chuckled, “according to him, Adrien acted like a fangirling teenager, asking if he could meet you.”

Sighing, Adrien turned an exasperated gaze on Alya. “How the hell am I supposed to negotiate a salary with her if you’re telling her exactly how great I think she is?” 

As old as she was, Marinette would have thought herself immune to surprises by now. But she couldn’t help but find herself stammering as she realized she was sitting with a person whose company she had harbored secret fantasies of working for, for years. Not to mention she had found herself lusting after the model Adrien Agreste more times than she could count in the last five years. He looked much different with his clothes securely fastened to his body. 

She shook her head, “d-don’t get me wrong M. Agreste-”

He smiled warmly, “please, Adrien.”

Marinette swallowed hard, gasping out, “ _Adrien_ ,” she scoffed, hardly believing that name was passing her lips. “I’m flattered, really. But the industry is so fast-paced, and there’s so many moving parts, I don’t think I would be able to just _jump_ into an operation of your caliber.”

He nodded with a smile, “I understand your concern, really I do. But you would hardly be being thrown in blindly.” Adrien opened his mouth to continue but stopped with a grin. “My father is currently the company’s head designer, but he is looking to step down and retire. The only trouble is, he doesn’t trust any of our designers to do the job, and I’m complete rubbish when it comes to design.” He shrugged, “my father entrusted the business aspect to me , but I don’t have the gift to create as he did.”

The gears in Marinette’s brain seemed to come to a complete halt as she saw where he was going. “Y-you mean that- _I-_ ”

Nodding, Adrien chuckled as the words died on her lips. “I’ve shown my father your work for weeks now. He’s very impressed with it and would like to meet you. If you’re a proper fit for the company, he would mentor you to take over the position.”

Marinette started to see spots as her lungs forgot what they were for. She could only stare at Adrien for what felt like minutes before she suddenly sucked in a large breath. Shaking her head, Marinette breathed out and blinked rapidly. “Sorry, I think I just blacked out for a minute.” She glanced at Nino and Alya, who were watching her excitedly. “You two are fucking with me, right?”

Nino burst out laughing again, and Alya just shook her head. “Girl, the man is offering you a _job_! This is legit!”

Smiling sheepishly, Adrien gestured for the card in her hand, and she numbly passed it back to him. He reached into his pocket and produced a pen. Turning the card over, he wrote a phone number on the back. He clicked the pen, and handed the card back to her with a smile. “I understand that this is a lot. But please, take some time and think it over.”

Marinette took back the card, feeling as though she were in a distinctly vivid dream. Looking at what he had written, she realized it was his personal number. She looked back up at Adrien with her jaw hanging open before remembering to close it. 

He continued, “that’s my cell. Give me a call or a text if you have questions or when you’ve decided. If I don’t pick up, leave me a voicemail. I _will_ get back to you within the hour.” Pulling his phone from the pocket of his pants, he pressed his lock key and frowned as it displayed the time. “And, I have to be going.”

Pulling out her phone, Marinette typed the number into her phone and saved the contact. She then typed out a quick message.

_Wed at 10:33am_  
_Is this for real?_

Adrien chuckled as his phone dinged. He opened it, quickly typing a message in reply.

Marinette jumped as her phone buzzed in her hand.

**Adrien:**  
_As real as it gets._

Looking back, she remembered some part of herself acknowledging Adrien as he left the apartment. She was fairly certain she had shaken his hand again, but that could have been fake. She really didn’t remember much beyond staring at the card in her hands. 

“So?” Alya asked once the door had shut behind Adrien. “You’re going to take it, right?” 

She scoffed, “I mean... “ Marinette’s brain was struggling to catch up with reality. “I’d be stupid not to, right?” 

Plopping back down in the armchair across from her, Nino shot her an upturned eyebrow. “Uh… yeah?” He grinned, “plus, I’m pretty sure he’s into you.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Sure, Nino. If that boy is my soulmate, I can die a happy woman.”

“And rich,” Alya added. When Marinette glared at her, she only shrugged. “What? Girl, the guy is _loaded_. If that’s your soulmate, you won’t have to set foot in his company for work like… ever.” 

Taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee, Marinette did her best to consider her options. Right… options. As if there were any other but the obvious. She would be crazy to say no. 

Right? 

She spent another hour with Alya and Nino, mostly weighing the decision before leaving to organize her shoot for the week. 

…

* * *

…

The warm evening breeze of early summer wafted over Paris as Ladybug surveyed her city from high atop the Eiffel Tower. All was quiet, as it usually was. No criminal activity had been reported, much less attempted in weeks. 

Marinette had stayed in other cities for great lengths of time, but there was something special about Paris that had brought her back to it time and again for almost six hundred years. But for the first time, she had a real reason to stay. 

Being the head designer of Gabriel meant that she would have a purpose in the city, instead of blending in as just another face in the crowd. But wasn’t that what she wanted as Marinette? Ladybug had literally been deified at least five times that she knew of throughout the millenia, and there was a wake of public and private awe that followed her almost no matter where she went in the world. 

She’d turned the tide of wars, crowned kings, assassinated tyrants, overturned unjust laws, and so much more throughout her life. But this was something she had never done. Everything of note she had ever accomplished had been Ladybug. Marinette had only ever been important once, and she had made the worst mistakes of her life then. 

Who she was when the mask was removed was a different person altogether. Without the mask, she felt like she could hide in her relative anonymity. 

But as the head designer of Gabriel, her work would be seen the world over. Her name would be synonymous with high fashion, and Marinette would never again know a moment's peace. She would no longer be a nobody whom she could use to escape the pressures of her superhero identity. Marinette was an escape in a lot of ways. And becoming a person of note, Marinette would become a stressor from which she would escape into the identity of Ladybug.

In a way, she almost felt like Ladybug was who she was now, rather than Marinette. Her entire life, Ladybug had been a constant. No matter what she called herself in whatever part of the world she was in, she was always Ladybug. But she wasn’t a real person. Her alter-ego had been built on the ideals which benefited all of humanity. She stood for truth, justice, and order. She was a symbol. Ladybug could never be a real person.

Working at Gabriel would give her a solid foundation in her life, and a place of which to build a legacy. Did she want to have something so solid? The thought scared her. Marinette had spent centuries with the freedom to up and move whenever she felt like it. 

Remembering how many lives she had lived made her feel exhausted. But if anyone should be alive to bear the burden of the Miraculous of Creation, it would be Ladybug. 

She had been partnered with hundreds, maybe thousands of Black Cat holders. But in all that time, since the creation of the miraculous, Marinette had been the only holder of the Ladybug. 

She sighed, kicking her legs in the open air as they dangled between the bars of the highest platform. It was times like these that she wished her partner, Shadow Cat was with her now. But he’d retired almost four years ago. Shadow Cat had been her partner for the last forty-some years. He was just a kid when he inherited the mantle of the Black Cat. Only fifteen, but he had been a natural, and one of the best she had worked with in centuries. Unfortunately, he'd known his soulmate since they were children. He'd finally retired when his age had caught up with him near sixty. 

Since then, she had been waiting for her assigned Guardian to choose a new Black Cat holder, but it had yet to happen. Fu was slow to do most things though. The turtle miraculous suited him perfectly. Two hundred years ago, he had nearly destroyed the Order of Guardians, and would have, had Ladybug not been present at the temple. He had been a foolish child, but she had pitied him all the same. 

Ladybug too remembered having her childhood taken from her for a destiny she hadn’t chosen. 

Once Fu had been trained, they sent him to Paris to take over the duty of acting as her guardian. At times he felt like a punishment that was being inflicted on her. Though at this point, having a guardian was mostly ceremonial, he carried with him a box of other miraculous which she could use to deputize Miraculous holders should she and the Black Cat prove outnumbered. 

But it had not happened in centuries that she had needed help from more allies than what the holder of the Black Cat could provide. 

Bothersome as training a new partner could be, Ladybug missed having someone to confer with. It took time for them all to get used to being her partner, and seeing themselves as her equal was something that often took a generation to accomplish. She was seen as a hero by so many of her partners when they first came to her side. Nearly all of them had grown up with tales and legends of her exploits the world over. It was hard for them to adjust to the reality of working with her. 

All but the first Black Cat. 

He had received his miraculous before her, and she was the one who had tried her best to live up to him. But it didn’t take long. 

He had been her first love. 

But, he wasn’t her soulmate, and she had watched him leave the ring behind when he found them. Now, eleven millennia removed from him, Ladybug couldn't even remember his name, much less his face. 

She liked to think that she could still remember the tenderness with which he'd held her, and their first kiss on a lake where cherry trees blossomed.

But it very well could have been the seventh, or even the twenty-third Black Cat whom she had also loved. 

The details of her life and the world she lived in had all grown so muddled, and she was tired. Tired of loving those who weren't meant for her, of watching them leave for their soulmate, and burying those friends whom she had been close to.

Everything was such a blur, it was hard to remember the awe with which people were supposed to see life. 

She had seen empires rise and fall, defeated more threats than she could count, and still she lived on. She had watched so many friends come and go throughout the centuries that she found attachments hard. It was why she’d had such a hard time letting Alya and Nino in.

Many had entered her long life, come and gone throughout the ages. Partners, friends, lovers, all without ever once finding her soulmate. If there was anyone older than her, Ladybug had never met them. 

How long had it been since she had allowed herself to be in a romantic relationship? Certainly not since she had lived in Paris. Had the Renaissance really been the last time? 

If she closed her eyes and imagined hard, she could remember the soft olive face of an Italian woman who had stolen her heart. It had been so long before her that Marinette had found love, she had not expected to find it in a girl living in a brothel. But she remembered saving her from some would-be cutpurse in a dark alley, and being smitten. 

Eliza. 

That was her name. 

She and Liz had spent nearly fifty years together. Though they had never aged, they were happy, and they lived simply. But one day, they realized that Eliza had begun to age, and she admitted she had found her soulmate when washing their clothes in the river. She had attempted to keep herself from them, but after finding one another, they always seemed to cross paths. 

Eliza had not wanted to leave her alone as so many before her had. It was Marinette who made the difficult decision for her, feeling selfish at keeping them apart. She had left in the night, leaving a note telling Liz to seek her happiness. After, she left Italy for Spain, never looking back. 

Marinette had gone by a different name then, though she could not recall what it was now. Names had come and gone for her, thrown away like travel-worn shoes when she moved to a new region. Thinking back, she could no longer remember what her original name had been, and it felt like losing a precious possession. But she liked Marinette. Liked the way it rolled off of her tongue. She thought she might be Marinette for another few decades before she chose another. 

She stared out over Paris, thinking about the past until the horizon began to lighten. As purple and orange clouds hinted at the coming dawn, she slipped into the skylight of her bedroom above Tom and Sabine's. 

The room had been their daughter's, but she had long since grown, and now lived with her wife and son in Lyon. 

Sabine was a distant relative of Marinette's, and she had done her best to keep in contact with members of her family throughout her life. While she was technically Marinette's great (to the dozenth degree) grand-daughter removed several hundred generations, Sabine was the only family she really had left. Her ancestors had been part of her reason for coming to France in the first place. 

She had watched Sabine grow up, and had been friends with her since she was just a child. Marinette remembered the day Sabine met Tom, and how sure she had been that he was her soulmate. She was right of course. And now, the two of them were happily approaching fifty together, and had taken Marinette in as their own. 

Marinette couldn't remember her parents, couldn't remember if she had liked them, or even if they had been kind. She had the ghost of a memory of her sister, who was her first friend. And she thought she may have had an older brother, but she wasn't sure she hadn't created him from a dream. 

"Tikki, detransformation." Pink light enveloped her, and she dropped to sit cross legged on her bed. 

Hovering in front of her, Tikki, her oldest friend, smiled. "So, Marinette? Are you going to take the job?"

Her kwami's squeaky little voice always made her smile. She chewed on her lip."I…" after thinking a moment, she nodded. "I think so." Marinette actually felt nervous. It wasn't something she was accustomed to. 

"Well," Tikki nudged her shoulder, "then what are you waiting for? Text that cute boy!" She winked at her chosen.

She exhaled a long breath as she pulled out her phone. It was funny. Thinking of all the changes she had seen in her life, nothing ever quite blew her away so much as the capabilities of the little rectangle in her palm. She always felt like an old lady thinking such things though. 

Bringing up Adrien's number, she typed,

_Thurs at 5:02am_  
_Hi, Adrien. I didn't want to wake you. I've thought about your offer and I think I want to accept._

Her finger hovered over the send button for several seconds. Finally she closed her eyes and dropped her thumb. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the section after my page break felt a little... info dumpy ^.^' I hope it didn't! But I'm worried about the way it came off. How do you all feel about an ageless Marinette who's seen some stuff? I'm still trying to retain her character, so I hope it still feels genuine despite the age thing. Next chapter we get to learn a little bit more about her life and the shenanigans that finding your soulmate can entail. Who could it be, I wonder?! Stay tuned for next weeks installment ;P


	2. Hiding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette ignores a message, tries not to think about the past, gets motherly advice, and awkward conversation ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you for all the kudos, bookmarks, and comments <3 Honestly, this fic got a lot more attention than I thought it would, so that’s exciting ^.^ 
> 
> I wasn’t sure if I was clear on the rules governing soulmates for this au, so I just thought I’d give a quick overview of that before we start. 
> 
> So basically, from birth to age 18, people age normally, but once they turn 18, they stop aging physically. People still learn and grow, but some can potentially live a couple of centuries before they finally meet the person they’re meant for. It takes a little while to notice signs of aging, and so people are careful to take notice of those they’ve met.
> 
> It is possible though rare for some to have more than one soulmate at a time, and some people may have more than one in their lifetimes. Because aging means that people have found their soulmates, generally signs of aging are admired and where as wrinkles, grey hair, etc. are thought of as unsightly for us, they are envied for people here.
> 
> It is possible for your soulmate to die and to find another later in life, though your aging will have stopped again. Because of this, it’s common for people to have dating apps for those who have lost their soulmate in hopes of meeting others in their situation.
> 
> If people are paying attention, they will notice subtle differences in what if feels like to be with their soulmate rather than someone they’ve had feelings for before. But most people are so caught up in their lives that they notice they have begun aging before anything else. People also often find their paths crossing with people who are their soulmates more frequently than would normally happen. It’s a form of their bond trying to bring them together in a sense, and it’s another subtle thing that, if people are paying attention to, they will notice being a common indicator.
> 
> A soulmate, while most often is a romantic partner, it isn’t required of a bond. Platonic soulmates can share their lives together in whatever way suits their lives. But so long as they are together in one another’s lives, they will age and grow together.
> 
> That’s what I’m working with. Idk how much will exactly come into play during this fic, maybe more, I’m not sure. If you want a better overview, check out the post I linked in the first chapter. It’s a pretty cute and fun read ^.^
> 
> But here we go! Chapter 2!

Marinette rolled in her bed to find a cheery blue sky greeting her from her skylight, the sun’s rays only beginning to peek in on her. She reached for her phone and checked the time, only to see that it was nearly noon. A text notification lay beneath the time, friendly and welcoming in it’s purple appearance. Unlocking her phone, she almost tapped the icon for her messaging app when she remembered the message she had sent to Adrien earlier in the morning. 

Suddenly feeling awake, she quickly dropped her phone as if it had burned her, and crawled to the foot of her bed. Marinette climbed down the ladder and found Tikki at her computer, scrolling through an article on Wikipedia. 

“Good morning, Marinette!” She was cheerful this morning. 

She yawned, “good mo-aaaahh- rning, Tikki.”

“So,” she asked without looking away from the screen, “did Adrien text you back?” For a godlike figure, she sure was nosy.

Grimacing, Marinette spared a glance at the ceiling of her bed where her phone sat. “Yeah… but I need some breakfast before I have the courage to look at it.”

Tikki rolled her eyes. “Marinette, don’t ignore him.” She sounded like an exasperated mother scolding her child. “It’s a great opportunity for someone other than _Ladybug_ for a change.”

Marinette groaned. Tikki had been on her for centuries to do something for herself for once and quit hiding in the shadows. But at this point it was just… scary. “You know I don’t have a great track record with doing things for myself.” Her gut squirmed at the thought, though that might have been hunger. 

Tikki turned away from the computer with a sigh as she shook her head. “That was once. Eight hundred years ago, Marinette.”

She scoffed, sick of having this conversation. “Remind me again. How many millions died because I wanted to play royalty?” Marinette grimaced at the memory she tried her best to forget. 

She and Temujin, the wielder of the black cat at the time, had vowed to unite the warring tribes of the plateaus to the north of China and create a kingdom of their own. Even without his miraculous, Temujin had been a fierce warrior. Together with the help of their forces they conquered what would be called Mongolia. Though she was content to build and rule their small empire, Temujin had greater ambitions. 

Their conquered chieftains shared in his goals, and together named Temujin their Great Khan. She had loved Temujin dearly, but she still hurt when she remembered him, and the man he had become when he took the name Genghis.

For a while, she was content to rule their kingdom from home while he played warlord. But he seemed to have a boundless bloodlust, and the greater their empire grew, the more death trailed in his wake. When word of his lesser queens and their bastard children reached her, she felt sick, and betrayed in ways she could not have imagined. 

She’d gone to him in his encampment, intent on bringing him home, hoping to dissuade him from his conquests. But when she entered his tent, she found him drunk, lying with a woman she’d never seen, both showing the early signs of age upon finding a mate.

It had been the final straw. After that, killing her husband had been easy. He’d been a disloyal, rabid dog, who’d needed to be put down. He was so drunk, he never noticed her poison his cup before she handed it to him. He thought she wanted to toast his fortune in his conquests. But she had never even been certain he knew she was there. 

But even in death, what he’d started couldn’t be undone. She had been forced to watch as her sons followed in his footsteps while her daughters were married off like cattle to her kingdom’s allies.

It was the first and last time she had born children, and she hurt even more, remembering how far they'd strayed from the ideals she tried to instill in them. Everything their father was, she had tried to keep them from becoming. But in that she’d failed, and together they were responsible for far more death than their father could have ever dreamed of. 

Try as she might to make something good of her time in Mongolia, she had spent the next two centuries fighting against what she had helped create. 

Knowing how many lives had been destroyed because of her and Temujin still gave her nightmares. She had never really forgiven herself for any of it. And the paralyzing fear that gripped her at times... These days, the name for it was PTSD. 

Marinette felt sick, remembering. 

She forced the memory down like a bitter pill back into the dark places in her mind with the other things it was painful to remember. Of all the things she had forgotten, her mistakes stuck with her as clearly as if she had made them yesterday. 

Tikki’s eyes softened as she watched tears form in Marinette’s eyes. “It’s fashion, Marinette.” She shook her head, “the world won’t have to tremble in fear because you’ve decided to design clothes.”

Rationally, she knew her kwami was right. It was _just_ fashion. But her decisions had carried unintended weight so many times before, she was never sure the ripple effects she could cause. “I know, Tikki.” She hugged herself tightly, “I’m just scared I’m going to cause more harm.” 

Tikki did her best to reassure her, “Temüjin was a good Black Cat. But even the best can become corrupted.” She floated to Marinette, wrapping her limbs around her arm in a tight hug. “You shouldn’t be afraid to follow your passions because of the mistakes of others, Marinette.”

Nuzzling Tikki’s head with her cheek, she nodded. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m still scared though.” 

Floating upward until she was level with Marinette’s face, her kwami booped her nose. “Go get breakfast, and then message Adrien back.” 

Chuckling as she rubbed her nose, Marinette nodded. “Okay,” she breathed, relenting. She knew Tikki was right. The little kwami usually was. 

She watched Tikki go back to her article. Marinette opened her trapdoor and descended to the living area. She smiled as Sabine walked in the door. "Good morning."

"Good afternoon, Marinette.” She smiled wryly, holding a plate of unsold pastries. “I was just coming to see if you were up." Sabine took in her pajamas and the state of her slept-in hair as she held out a mixed berry danish, "late night?"

Marinette shrugged, taking the pastry. "I had trouble getting to sleep." She tapped her temple, "my brain wouldn't shut up." Glancing at the danish, she brought it to her lips, "and I was thinking over a job offer," she muttered as she took a bite. 

"A job?" Sabine walked past her, carrying the plate to the kitchen counter. "Who from? Another magazine?" She shook her head as she took a macaron. "Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner with your talent for design. Any publication would be lucky to have you." She took a small bite.

Swallowing the sticky wad of berry and bread, Marinette smiled sheepishly. "I was asked to mentor under Gabriel Agreste as head designer for the Gabriel line." 

Choking, Sabine coughed several crumbs into her free hand. She looked incredulously at her stand-in child. "And you had to _think_ about that?"

“Well…” she glanced at the danish, hoping it would provide the answers she was looking for. But the glaze only gleamed at her in the soft afternoon light that poured through the kitchen window. “Yeah. It’s a big decision. And besides, the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous are still missing. If they pop up in Chile or something I need to be able to go after them.” She worried her cheek. 

Clearing her throat, Sabine seated herself on a stool at the kitchen’s bar. “That sounds like an excuse.” She looked thoughtfully at Marinette as the macaron hovered near her lips. “It’s been, what? Five years since they’ve been spotted?” She took another bite of her treat.

Marinette nodded slowly. The miraculous had been missing for a century and a half. The Temple of the Guardians had been attacked in the night during the second opium war. Somehow the English had found out about the Temple. Monks took up Miraculous to defend themselves, but in the fighting, the Butterfly and Peacock wielders were killed, and the jewels taken. 

Since then, there were very few times they had been spotted in the world. There had been two sightings in the last decade, which was more than the previous fifty years. But then, news traveled the globe in a second these days, so it was inevitable that they would be spotted. 

In two-thousand eleven, the current owners were found to be helping rescue efforts after the tsunami in Fukushima. They were working to help evacuate the nuclear plant when the miraculous holders of Japan found them. They fought to take back the miraculous, but the thieves escaped, though it was thought that the Peacock had been damaged. Something about a spent fuel rod hitting the miraculous directly. 

The second time they were spotted was in the two-thousand fifteen terrorist attacks in Paris. The miraculous wielders and their chosen champions had been attempting to stop the attackers when the peacock wielder collapsed, and her power failed. They disappeared shortly after, before the madness could be ended, and stopping the attack fell to the authorities. 

Marinette had been in Africa for nearly a year at the time and Shadow Cat had retired ten months prior. She was attempting to track down and rescue the two-hundred some girls who had been kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. But before she could complete her goal, she returned to Paris, hoping to secure the miraculous that she’d been trying to locate for almost two centuries.

She’d been in Paris, living with Tom and Sabine since. 

Of course, the couple knew who she was and what she did. Close as she and Alya were, Sabine was far and away her best friend. Second only to Tikki of course. But her relationship with Tikki was different from any she’d ever had. 

Sabine reached for Marinette’s hand and she gripped it lightly. Her voice was reassuring, “you know there are other miraculous wielders out there to search as well. The world doesn’t have to rest on Ladybug’s shoulders all of the time.”

“I know,” Marinette admitted. “But, honestly?” She shrugged, “I don’t trust the kids they give Miraculous to these days to do the job properly.” 

Sabine rolled her eyes. “Some of those ‘ _kids_ ’ have had their Miraculous for thirty years now.” She grinned, “you sound like an old lady.” 

Marinette snorted, “I _am_ an old lady!” 

Chuckling softly, Sabine nodded. “I think you might qualify as an ancient crone at this point.” Taking back her hand, she took a large bite of her macaron.

Her jaw fell in surprise. “A _crone_?!” 

Swallowing her bite, Sabine shot she a mischievous grin. “An _ancient_ crone.”

Taking an indignant bite of her danish, Marinette glared at her grand daughter slash mother-figure. Swallowing the bite, she threw up her head in exaggerated distress, “in all my years, I’ve never-!” She brought her hand to her forehead, and felt berry glaze smear across her skin. Her face fell as she squeaked in surprise. She’d forgotten she’d been holding the danish. 

Bursting out laughing, Sabine put down her macaron and ripped a paper towel from the roll. With her other hand, she grabbed the danish from Marinette’s hand and quickly wiped up the berry residue. She pointed to the chair that she’d risen from, “sit.” 

Swiping excess berry from the bridge of her nose, Marinette took the seat she’d been told. Sabine wetted a new paper towel and returned to gently scrub away the sticky syrup from her skin. For just a moment, Marinette forgot her age, and her relationship to Sabine, feeling very much like a clumsy daughter being helped by her mother. It was… nice.

The illusion broke as Sabine chuckled, “I swear, Constance inherited your clumsiness.”

Smiling sheepishly, Marinette nodded. “Yeah, that’s a gene that never seems to go away.”

Looking over her work, Sabine smiled. “Well, that one seems to be dormant in me, thankfully.” She winked. 

“Thank you,” Marinette mumbled. She couldn’t remember anyone making her feel so cared for as Tom and Sabine did. Sometimes she really _did_ feel like their child. She picked up the remains of her danish and shoved the last bit in her mouth to keep herself from saying something stupid. 

For a few minutes, they worked through the plate in companionable silence before Sabine finally asked, “so, are you going to take that job?”

“I…” The pain au chocolat in her hand held no more answers than the danish had. “I think so.” Uncertainty painted her face as she glanced at Sabine. “I’d be stupid not to, right?”

She shrugged. “Stupid might be a strong word for it. Foolish?” Sabine shrugged. “Possibly.” She looked at Marinette fondly, “but it’s your life Marinette. Only you know if it will be right for you.” 

In her gut, she knew that the position would be incredible. She’d never been presented with an opportunity like this before, and it scared her how much she wanted it. Fashion was something she’d discovered such a passion in. Despite that, fear nagged her heart that she might be making a mistake. 

Marinette murmured, “I’m just afraid I’ll-”

“Screw up monumentally?” Sabine supplied with a wry smile. 

Shoulders sagging, she sighed. “Yeah,” she admitted.

Sabine shook her head and spoke softly. “No matter how old you get, you’ll always make mistakes. They happen. But if you don’t try, then…” she shrugged, “well, nothing happens at all.” 

Marinette sighed. She almost preferred that nothing happened at all. But then, she had spent over six hundred years running from her failures, and frozen in indecision. 

After fighting the mongol hordes in dozens of different countries, she’d come to France to escape her mistakes. Instead, she’d thrown herself into a righteous crusade as Jeanne d'Arc, and ultimately failed at that too. She’d been so blinded by the need to hide from her past, Marinette had almost died in English custody. When she finally escaped, she’d forced herself into exile in Italy and tried her best to be no one. 

Eliza had helped her put the broken pieces of herself back together. Marinette had been ready to give up on ever finding peace with herself before Liz. If not for her, she may never have found the courage to help the Native American's fight against their European invaders. She definitely wouldn’t have helped the American and French in their revolutions, and she certainly would never have considered fighting against the slave trade or been a part of women’s sufferage movements. 

Everything she was today, she owed to Eliiza. She might not have been Marinette's soulmate, but without her, she may never have found herself again. She had deserved more than to be abandoned in the night with only a note. 

Marinette only prayed that her soulmate had been there for her, and that Eliza hadn’t resented them for her leaving. 

It had been for the best. 

If Marinette repeated it often enough, she could almost believe it.

But even after all this time... God, she still missed her. 

“I know,” Marinette admitted. “I do want to take it.” She shrugged, “I know I do.”

Sabine barely looked up from her croissant, “then do it.” She said it so matter-of-factly that there could be no argument. She shot her a glance from the corner of her eye. “What are you waiting for?”

Something about the way Sabine spoke made her feel obligated to follow through, and Marinette hopped off the bar stool. “Okay,” she nodded, heading for her room before the courage left her. “I will.” 

Sabine held out two macarons. “Don’t forget these for Tikki.”

She grinned, “right. She’d throw a fit if I did!”

Turning to the ladder for her room, Marinette started climbing. With one hand on the trapdoor, she looked back. “Thank you, Sabine.”

She only smiled in return. As Marinette shut the trapdoor behind her, she thought she heard Sabine say, “that’s my girl.” 

Climbing up onto her bed, she found Tikki curled up asleep on her pillow. Gently nudging her kwami awake, Marinette held out the macarons as she rubbed her eyes. 

“Thank you, Marinette.” Tikki beamed sleepily up at her and took a cookie in her small hands. 

“Of course, Tikki.” She smiled fondly at her as she grabbed her phone from its charger.

Her kwami eyed her from over top of the cookie. “So,” she asked nonchalantly. “Finally going to check that message?”

Marinette nodded as she unlocked her phone. “Yeah.” She returned Tikki’s look with one of confidence that she was surprised to find was genuine. “I want to do this.”

“I’m glad,” Tikki smiled at her as she nibbled on the macaron.

Opening the message was nerve-wracking, which made her feel silly. What was she going to do? Throw this phone out and get a whole new one just to avoid this message? 

Well… 

Maybe… 

Actually... 

That could work! 

Marinette gave her head a sharp shake and shoved the anxiety down. Quickly tapping the little chathead bubble before she could rethink, she read Adrien’s message.

 _Thurs at 7:18am_  
**Adrien:**  
_I’ve got to admit, I got a little nervous. It’s been a long time since anyone has made me wait almost twenty-four hours to hear back! Lol But I’m happy to hear from you._

_Based on that timestamp, I’m going to assume you were out late, so why don’t you give me a call when you get up? I can’t guarantee that I'll be able to get back to you because my job is abysmally dull. But, like I said yesterday, you’ll hear back within the hour._

Staring at the message, it was difficult for Marinette to get her head around. 

This was real. It was happening. 

Glancing at the time, she noticed it was just after noon. Maybe she could catch his voicemail before he went to lunch and have some time to freak out more?

Marinette’s finger hovered over the call button for a moment. Phone calls were the worst thing she’d had to do in her life. She had literally had an easier time running people through with a sword than she did making a phone call!

The gentle brrrr… brrrr… rang in her ear, and by the third ring she was sure she was home free. 

The fourth ring cut off as a voice said, “good afternoon, Marinette!” 

The butterflies in her stomach were back again. Even this boy’s _voice_ was cute. How the hell was that possible? She had been sure that speaking to him without actually having to see him would be the far easier option. 

Barely keeping the quiver from her jaw, she heard herself say, “h-hello, A-Adrien! Hi! Good mor- er! Afternoon!” Her throat vibrated with a small, nervous, chuckle. “How doing today you are?” Marinette smacked her forehead with her palm and sealed her lips to stop the word vomit. 

She was never going to get this job. 

A throaty, croaky voice came over the receiver in reply, “very good, I am! You, I thank. Doing well you also are?”

Her mind went blank. Did he really...? Marinette heard herself answer, “I’m good, but I might have to go. I don’t think I have long distance coverage to Dagobah.” 

Did she just throw out a casual, flirty tone as she said that? 

Maybe she should shut her brain off more often.

Adrien laughed on the other end. “Oh thank god, you’re a dork!” He chuckled, “good to know you have a sense of humor.”

“Mmmm,” she hummed. “At least I’m not, full-Yoda-voice-to-a-person-I-intend-to-hire, dorky.” She’d done it again. Replied without thinking. This… could work. 

Adrien clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. “I suddenly feel like this could be a hostile work environment.”

Her voice lowered suggestively as she asked, “what’s the matter, Agreste? Afraid of a witty woman?” There was no denying the flirty connotations of _that_ statement! Alarm bells started ringing in her head as she frantically tried to turn her brain back on. “Er- I-!” It was no good. She’d forgotten that she couldn’t talk to him with her brain activated. 

He chuckled softly, his tone almost sultry as he said, “far from it, actually.” 

Had he just…?

He suddenly cleared his throat. “Um- anyway!” Suddenly he was all business, his tone professional. “If you could come by with a portfolio some time today or tomorrow, I’d love to look it over and do a casual interview.” 

Oh shoot… “My portfolio?” Marinette gulped. “I don’t actually have anything together at the moment. Um…” She thought of all the different places she had stashed her designs over the last few years and realized it would be a project to put together. “Could you give me a couple of days to put something presentable together?” 

She heard paper shuffle on his end, “are you free tonight?”

Marinette’s jaw refused to move. Was he…? “uh, why?” Really? That was the best she could muster to that question?

“If you’re free, you can just bring what you have, and we can discuss things over dinner.” He sounded like he was in business mode, but the way he phrased it… “Your interview is mostly a formality as far as I’m concerned. But my father’s a stickler like that. I wouldn’t worry though. Your work mostly speaks for itself.” Adrien almost seemed oblivious to the fact that he had essentially asked her out. 

Or maybe that was just her hoping? And that in itself threw her. She _wanted_ him to ask her out? She knew better than this. She quietly sighed, trying to get her nerves under control. 

She couldn’t do this to herself again.

She felt her heart slow back down to it’s gentle freaking-out rhythm. He just wanted to discuss the job. That was fine. She could do that. So why did part of her feel so disappointed? “Yeah, I could do that. I should be free after six or so.” 

It would take her at least that long to track down her various sketchbooks and loose designs she had stuck in every free space in her life over the last five years. On top of that, she had to weed out her early work. Her designs from that first year had mostly been nostalgic recreations of some of her favorite outfits that she could remember. 

“Sounds perfect,” Adrien suddenly sounded more relaxed. “I should be done here about then. How do you feel about Thai food?”

Marinette had to restrain herself from exclaiming, ‘I love it!’. As far as she was concerned, Thai food was the pinnacle of human civilization’s accomplishments. “Thai is my favorite,” she said in an evenly measured voice. 

“Great,” he actually sounded like he was smiling. “I’ll send you the address in a few. Now,” he sighed. “I need to get back to a boring-ass meeting on the prices of imported fabrics.”

She chuckled, “sounds… thrilling.”

“Not at all,” he deadpanned. “I can’t tell you how happy I was to step out and take your call.” He laughed. “So, thanks for saving me.”

“Any time.” Marinette felt herself grinning. It was a bit of a one-sided joke for her since saving people was what she did. “I’ll, uh- see you tonight then, Adrien.” 

“It honestly can’t come soon enough,” he sighed. “Fingers crossed I don’t die in this meeting.” 

“Got them crossed!” She laughed, “bye, Adrien. And good luck.” 

“Thanks.” He let out a deep breath, “bye, Marinette.” 

As she hung up, Tikki stared at her. “Did he flirt with you as much as you did with him?”

Marinette’s chest felt tingly, and she actually felt giddy. She couldn’t remember anyone ever making her feel so at ease and frazzled at the same time. It was exactly like being in a room with him. 

She dropped her phone and tried to collect her thoughts. “What the fuck just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked playing with Sabine in this chapter ^.^ I think she's going to be fun the further we get into this, and playing with Marinette's relationship with both her and Tom is going to an interesting dynamic.
> 
> But how did you all like this chapter? Do I have too much in the way of her background in the middle of scenes? Do you want to know more about her life? Should I cut back a little? There's a lot to play with and I don't want to be too overwhelming with it. History is my jam and this fic is honestly a good excuse to study and insert Marinette into events from different time periods :P 
> 
> I should have mentioned in the tags, but I'm thinking this is going to be a bit of a frustrating mutual pining/slow burn situation. And of course we're going to be mixing it up with some lovesquare confusion as well ^.^ 
> 
> The next chapter is going to be an Adrien perspective with a small Nino one at the end. It's the dinner date/interview! How will our morons be in one another's presence? See you next Friday ;D


	3. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner time! Marinette is buff. Adrien is flustered. Profession is discussed. Traumas are shared. Sir, that’s my emotional support employee. Nino gets a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you all so much for the kudos, comments, bookmarks, and subs! Seeing how into this people are is really motivating to get more done ^.^ 
> 
> So, I realized that we haven’t actually had a description of Marinette yet, so we’re finally getting one! Years of being Ladybug is good for the muscle definition :P Also, given that she was born in China several millenia ago, Marinette obviously has brown eyes and isn’t freaking white lol we gotta keep her signature freckles though!
> 
> And yes, they do flirt a little heavy-handedly some more, but it’s all with a purpose I promise lol I’m not rushing this! But these two are just dense and don’t pay attention. 
> 
> FYI: The views of the characters regarding Thai food are a direct projection of the author’s. Thai food is supreme. 
> 
> We now return you to your regularly scheduled word bundle.

With fingers interlaced behind his head, legs stretched out beneath the table, Adrien did his best to relax after a long day. It has been one tedious meeting after another, interspersed with exciting rounds of paperwork and design approvals. How his father had done this for years, he would never understand. 

He did however have a suspicion that Gabriel had handed off the dullest part of the company to Adrien because he was sick of it. He’d shadowed his father for nearly a year before Gabriel had felt comfortable handing the reins to his son entirely. Since then, it had been Adrien’s personal nonstop hell. But, while his ideal profession would have been a research scientist in the field of Astrophysics, he actually enjoyed having such a full schedule.

If there was one thing Adrien enjoyed, it was staying busy. Of course he had probably been conditioned by his father’s obsessive over-scheduling of his days as a teenager. Even now, he fenced, often competing in international competitions. Kagami and he still maintained a solid friendship through their sport, and he often spent time with her and Chloé after a competition. That they were one another’s soulmates still made him laugh. But he loved being able to see the pair of them at the same time. 

On top of running the company, and fencing, he still found time to work out and keep in shape, though not to the meticulous degree that modeling had put him under. Starving himself and striving for physical perfection had been exhausting and he hated it. Even now, a part of him greatly resented Gabriel for forcing him to put his body under so much strain. 

But on the up side, no longer being a model meant he had time to indulge in the manga and anime he had wanted to take in forever. Not to mention he got to play video games from time to time, which was a perfect way to shut his brain off at the end of an agitating day. 

That or playing with his friend’s band, Kitty Section from time to time. They had a gig coming up soon, and there was nothing quite like performing on stage. With their outfits they wore for performances, no one ever recognized him, and it was a perfect way to keep his piano skills from getting rusty. 

Having so little down time was just the way he liked his life. Though, the tedium of the company often grew on his nerves. Already tomorrow he had to make three different international calls with the Tokyo, Moscow, and Buenos Aires branches. And that was on top of the investigation into whether or not someone in the accounting department was pocketing an extra ten cents on every packet of bobby pins and hair spray that was ordered. 

Spending had gone up by a small margin and it was cutting into their profits by nearly sixteen euro a week. It really was an absolutely mindblowing scandal that deserved Adrien’s full and complete attention.

Provided he could stay awake, that was. 

On the table his phone buzzed, interrupting his workless bliss. He cracked an eye, sparing it a glance. On the screen, the name Nino Lahiffe stared back as the call came through. Relieved that it wasn’t another call about the price of Arabian silk, he pressed answer, and returned to his lounging as he put the phone to his ear. 

“Hey, Nino.” 

“Hey, dude. So settle this for me and Alya, will you?” He sounded a little annoyed. 

“Uh…” Adrien hated being involved in their spats. Usually it just required that one or both of them opened up about an emotion they were bottling up. But he loved them to death, so what was he going to do? Say no? 

Saying no definitely wasn’t an option. The last couple of times he’d tried it, he’d ended up with Alya on his couch for a week, followed by Nino the following month. Both lamented the entire time about how much they regretted the argument in the first place. 

He wasn’t repeating that mistake again.

“Okay?” 

“So, did you, or did you not ask Marinette on a date disguised as an interview?” 

In the background, Alya yelled, “if it’s not a date, then what was with all the flirting, Sunshine?!”

Adrien blinked. “Uh…” Had they actually flirted? He had thought they were just joking. Though… some of it may have been pushing the envelope a bit, he had to admit. Something about her had just thrown him off kilter, and he couldn’t put his finger on what. “It _is_ just an interview. Is she not always like that?”

Nino voice quieted a bit as he moved the receiver, “see, babe? Just an interview.”

Alya scoffed loudly, and the phone crackled as it passed hands. “No. No no no it’s not Sunshine. She called me immediately after you two got off and told me about it.” She sounded exasperated. “ _You_ don’t conduct business calls that way! What the hell was that?” She sounded like she was scolding him. 

Part of him coiled in instinctual fear. Alya was too protective for her own good sometimes. 

Adrien blinked as he tried to collect his thoughts. “She sounded nervous. I was just trying to put her at ease.” 

“Oh really?” She sounded annoyed. “Then why did you ask her to go to Mam Thaï?” 

He laughed, “because I like Thai food?”

From the background he heard Nino say, “that’s your classic first date restaurant, dude!” 

“Thank you!” Alya yelled back to him. She said to Adrien, “even _he_ knows that! And he’s arguing _against_ this being a date!”

For a second he thought back to how many dates he had brought here and… well… “Huh…” they did have a point. “I mean it’s my favorite Thai place though.”

Sounding just a little too smug, he heard Nino say, “the man _does_ basically lives on that place’s food, babe.”

“I mean, yeah.” Alya groaned. “I don’t know how many times we’ve been there with him. But that’s beside the point!”

“Oh wow,” Adrien muttered.

Marinette had just walked through the front door, and he noticed that his wasn’t the only eye to turn toward her as she surveyed the restaurant. 

She wore a striking red turtle-neck dress with wrist length sleeves that cut off just below her knee. As she looked around the restaurant for him, he noticed the dress was lace from wrist to neck, becoming solid fabric at her bust line. The dress clung to every curve of her body. Her [undercut hairstyle](https://i2.wp.com/therighthairstyles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/12-pixie-with-side-and-back-undercut.jpg?w=500&ssl=1) was windblow, the sides looking freshly buzzed, the top locks long and loosely styled, and it seemed to shine a deep blueblack that blended with her caramel skin. 

Adrien noticed gold bangles on her wrists as she clutched a thick stack of sketchbooks in her arms. He could just make out the thin shoulder strap of her handbag on her arm behind the books. Her makeup was composed of simple nude colors, but was flawless nonetheless. 

As good as she made the outfit look, Adrien couldn’t help but notice the way her body curved, or the muscle that stood out against the tight fabric. Her legs were toned and strong, beneath wide, muscled hips. Her quads were especially pronounced, the cut of them matching her flawless calves. The sweep of her waist drew the eye, accentuating her toned figure. Her arms were tight and strong, and even resting, the muscles of her forearms and biceps suggested strength. 

Adrien knew show-muscles when he saw them after modeling for so long, and he knew that Marinette’s were anything but. He had seen fitness models who would look out of shape if compared with Marinette’s goddess-like figure. 

This girl could kick his ass and leave him thanking her in the dirt. 

Alya sounded far too smug, “my girl just arrived, didn’t she?” She chuckled, “like what you see, Sunshine?”

Catching sight of him, she waved and began making her way over, her hips swaying gently as she glided between the tables. 

“I-I mean, her outfit is great!” He cleared his throat, trying to keep his mind in a professional place. She almost made him feel underdressed in his black jeans and black t-shirt with his hair mussed to no end. He was in full off-work mode. “Not to mention she could fucking bench-press me as a warm-up,” he muttered.

“I know your type,” she laughed. “You can’t tell me she doesn’t look hot.”

Nino yelled from the background, “if you don’t think ‘Nette’s hot, you’re a fucking liar dude!” 

“He’s right and he should say it,” Alya said matter-of-factly.

“I- yo- bu-” Adrien stammered. It suddenly hit him that Alya had seen a fair number of the women he had dated, and their outfit choices. He hissed, “you helped her get dressed, didn’t you?”

Sounding like she was taunting him, Alya laughed in a sing-song voice, “I know what you li-ike~.”

Adrien groaned. Marinette was about halfway across the restaurant. He whispered, “yes, she’s cute, okay?” He exhaled a frustrated breath, his eyes shooting to the ceiling. “But I’m trying to hire someone to continue my father’s work. Not find a girlfriend!”

Cackling, Alya sounded overly pleased with herself. “That’s all I needed to hear, Sunshine.” She hung up immediately. 

No one had ever tried to set him up on more dates than Alya had and she was almost single-mindedly determined in helping him to find his soulmate. She was the most aggressively helpful person he had ever known and, much as he loved her, he wanted to strangle her. 

Adrien stood as Marinette arrived at the table. He walked around on impulse, deep-seeded manners driving him as he pulled out her chair for her. “Hi,” he couldn’t help but smile. Immediately he blamed Alya for the stupid giddy feeling of butterflies that rose in his stomach. 

She’d gotten in his head.

Marinette smiled nervously, taking a seat. “Hi, umm, thank you, M. Agr-” She shook her head with a nervous laugh, “ah, Adrien.” Scooting herself forward, she lost her grip on some of her sketchbooks, and they tumbled to the floor, loose pages scattering around their feet. “Shi-Shoot!” She immediately turned red. 

Going to one knee, Adrien automatically began collecting pages. As he bent, his head collided with something equally solid and he heard a pained whimper from Marinette as pain bloomed throughout the top of his skull. “Ugh,” he groaned. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Marinette sounded frantic as she touched her fingers to the red circle on her forehead.

“No, no!” Adrien looked up as his fingers pushed pages together. “You’re fin- I mean, I’m okay!” He shrugged, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. “I’m okay, really. Are _you_ okay?”

His heart almost stopped as she gently pressed her teeth to her lip, her cheeks still scarlet as she nodded. 

Fucking, Alya.

“Good!” Adrien looked away immediately, back at what his hands were doing. He pushed the pages into a neat stack. As he was about to hand them back, he noticed the top design. It was a simple, medieval style, off the shoulder gown with sweeping sleeves, a low neckline, and a slit halfway up the knee. It seemed very plain compared to other work of her’s that he’d seen, and overly scandalous if it were a period piece. 

The pages were lifted from his hands and he looked up to see Marinette hurriedly shoving them back into a book. “I’m sorry, that top one shouldn’t have been in there.” She sounded strangely panicked. “It was for a friend who works the Christmas market in Provins.” 

It almost looked like she was going to cry. He shrugged, going back to his seat. “It’s okay. I didn’t exactly give you a lot of time to get things together.” He couldn’t help but wonder how someone was expected to stay warm in that dress in December though.

A soft buzz issued from her side of the table and she reached for her bag, but stopped and looked at him. “Do you mind if I check that?” 

He couldn’t help but laugh, “I told you it would be casual.” Adrien pointed to his clothes and hair, “I thought my ensemble might convey that.”

Taking him in, Marinette had a mischievous smile. “I just assumed you were having an emo day.”

He gasped in faux surprise, doing his best to keep a straight face. “I’ll have you know that’s _every_ day!”

Adrien felt far too pleased with himself as she laughed while reaching for her phone. She unlocked it and rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s Alya,” she muttered. 

As she read whatever Alya had sent, some color returned to her cheeks, and she glanced up at him, and then back down at her phone for a moment. She quickly typed back a reply before finally she locked it and put it back in her bag. 

He raised an eyebrow. "She's being an incorrigible busybody, I assume?" 

Flushing a further shade of pink, Marinette nodded. "That's her!" 

They both laughed as a waiter came by with their menus and filled their water glasses. 

After a moment perusing their menus, Marinette glanced up at Adrien. "You know, I'm a little surprised you chose this place."

He returned her glance with a confused shake of his head. "Why's that?"

"Well," she did a quick survey of the room and then looked back at the menu. "It's so…" she shrugged, "informal? And the prices are, surprisingly, affordable."

Adrien laughed. "Yeah?” He shook his head, “I'm not following here."

Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she laughed nervously. "Okay, I'm probably putting my foot in my mouth here." Marinette bobbed her head back and forth, "but I mean I expected the CEO and former model of one of the world's foremost fashion lines would be…" she trailed off, giving a nervous shrug.

He supplied with a grin, "an insufferable fancy boy with more money than sense?" 

"Yes!" She laughed, looking more at ease. 

Adrien nodded, “yeah, I get that a lot.” He smirked, looking back at his menu. “I was recently informed by a certain busybody we have in common, and her boyfriend that I come here far too much.” His shoulders rocked forward in a slight shrug, “and they might be right.” He put his menu down on the table. “I know this thing front to back better than I do my own phone number.”

Marinette shot him an approving look. “Well, if we work together,-” 

“Which I’m sure we will,” He interrupted. 

She looked taken aback for a moment. “Well, I’ll probably be joining you a lot for a meal then. I love thai food like nothing else.” An easy smile spread across her face.

Relaxing in his chair a bit, Adrien grinned. “It’s a date then.” 

Eyes widening, Marinette blushed as she opened her mouth to say something.

Adrien quickly stuttered out, “er, n-not that it would be a _date_! But, you know?” He fidgeted in his seat, suddenly sitting up straight. “That’d be unprofessional! We would be working together.”

She closed her mouth as he babbled and stared at him. So many looks flitted across her face at once, it was hard to be sure what she was thinking. He had a sinking feeling that she could see the undersocialized mess he had been as a teenager. 

“Right,” she finally nodded, tight lipped. 

“Yeah,” he reaffirmed.

“Obviously,” she seemed to smile a little too wide.

“Of course!” He couldn’t stop himself from adding. 

Thankfully she didn’t add anything else, and looked away, shooting him a furtive glance a moment later.

“So?” Marinette finally asked after several awkward seconds, “would you like to see my work?”

“Yes!” Adrien grinned, glad for something to latch onto that he wouldn’t look like a fool over. “That _is_ why we’re here!” 

She nodded as she laid open the first book in the stack between them. “That, and a mutual love affair,” she smirked. 

Was it possible for the temperature of a room to rise several degrees all of a sudden? Adrien was pretty sure that was the definition of an oven. But that didn’t explain why his face suddenly felt so warm. “Uh-”

“With Thai food!” Marinette quickly added. She immediately turned her eyes to the first sketch, and the attached pictures of the finished project. “So, you’ll notice only about half of these have pictures of the completed work.” She shot him a sheepish look, “it would seem I have more ambitious designs than time to make them a reality.”

“Well,” he smiled, “that is the strong mark of a good designer.” Their eyes met for a moment before they both quickly looked down at the book between them. 

They sat for several minutes talking over the first few designs in her sketchbook before their waiter came by again to take their orders. He requested a yellow curry, while she asked for a Thai basil stir-fry. 

“Drinks?” Their waiter asked.

Adrien shrugged with a glance at Marinette. “Would you care to split a bottle of red wine?”

“Uh…” her eyes went wide a moment before she shook her head, “I don’t uh- drink.” Why did she seem so nervous?

He nodded, looking back to the waiter, “just a glass of red for me please.” 

“And water is fine for me,” Marinette quickly added.

Once the waiter had taken their menus, Adrien focused back in on Marinette. “So,” he glanced at her sketches, “I want to see more, but first I need to know how committed you would be to this job.” He drummed his fingers on the table, “my father pulls some crazy hours to meet deadlines, and when shows or fashion week is coming up, he basically lives in his office.” 

Marinette nodded along silently. 

“If you take this job, you can more or less kiss a social life goodbye.” He shook his head, “I know you haven’t had an industry job before, but you need to be able to eat, sleep, and breathe fashion.” He smirked, “sounds corny I know, but Gabriel came to be one of the world’s foremost fashion lines because of my fathers insane dedication.” 

“Wow,” Marinette muttered. “He really does all of that work on his own?” 

Adrien nodded, “he’s a bit of a perfectionist and doesn’t trust others to carry out his vision to his specifications.” He sighed, “the man is ridiculously intense, and high strung is a nice way of putting his baseline mood.” He actually found himself chuckling, “you can imagine how much fun my childhood was.” 

She bit her lip, suppressing a smirk. "I imagine you can tiptoe across a carton of eggs.." 

Adrien laughed, "miles of them!"

Letting out a breath, the humor fell from Marinette’s face. She chewed on her lip in thought for a moment. “Those are some… big shoes to fill.” She sounded… worried? Intimidated? Either would have been appropriate.

He nodded, “they are. And with how picky he is, well…” Adrien shrugged, “you can see why the position is open. But,” he really didn’t want to scare her off. But hiring someone who would flop would be worse. “I don’t plan on letting this company slip while my father is alive to see it. So I need to know, and be honest with me.” He looked her in the eye, “do you think you can handle this?”

For a second, she actually smirked at him, but before he could question it, the look was gone. She seemed to think it over for a few moments before answering. He liked that. 

Marinette nodded. “It’s not something I’m used to for sure. But knowing I would be being mentored by him would help get me into the swing of things.” She smiled, “and I have passed out working on my fair share of projects in my spare time.” He believed her when she said, “it might not be my career at the moment, but I have a dedication to the craft and I want to be better.” She nodded again, “it’s going to be an adjustment, but it’s nothing I can’t do.” A melodic chuckle fell from her lips, “it’s not like I really have a social life to worry about losing anyway.”

“I like your attitude,” he couldn’t help but smile. It was relieving to know that his father’s fanatical approach to the company didn’t dissuade her. Part of him was excited at the prospect of getting to see her at work as well. He shoved the feeling down, trying not to let it influence his opinion of her. “I doubt my father will be very lenient on giving you too much of an adjustment period, unfortunately. He isn’t what most would define as ‘patient.’”

Rolling her eyes, Marinette muttered, “I’m familiar with the type.” 

“Is your editor a stickler too?” Adrien took a drink of his water. 

“Hmm?” Her eyebrows raised for a moment before she replied, “oh! Uh… yeah. My editor.” She laughed nervously, “he’s a pain!”

Their waiter returned with Adrien’s wine at that moment, and he thanked the man as he left again.

“Well,” Adrien took a sip of his wine and nodded toward the books on the table. “I’d love to see some more of your designs.” 

They made it through two books of her work before their food came. After that, they mostly ate in silence. 

The cheque came toward the end of their meals, and Marinette reached for it to see what her bill was. 

Adrien laughed, “don’t worry, I’ve got it.”

“Oh,” she looked taken aback. “Are… you sure?” 

He grinned, “I think I might have _just_ enough in my account to cover us both.” 

Marinette smirked, pulling lightly at her bottom lip with her teeth. “I thought you said this wasn’t a date.”

“Uh- I-” Adrien cleared his throat, “I took up your evening for this.” He shrugged, doing his best to pretend that the look she was giving him didn’t make him feel jittery. “The least I can do is pay for your reasonably priced dinner.”

There was a mischievous glint in her eye. “I guess it’s only fair. Given what terrible company you are,” she grinned. 

“You know,” he pulled his card from his wallet as she handed him the bill. “All of my imaginary friends said the same thing when I was a kid.” He felt far too pleased with himself when she laughed again. 

She raised an eyebrow, “sounds like someone needs to talk to a therapist about some repressed issues.” 

Adrien laughed, “you’ll understand just how right you are when you’ve met my father!”

"Oh…" her face went blank. "Wait. So… this is happening?" She actually looked scared.

He chuckled, "like I said. This is a formality as far as I'm concerned." He shrugged, "your designs are unique and phenomenal, and will bring a much needed breath of fresh air to the company."

Marinette was pale. "I just didn't think this would be that easy." She chuckled nervously.

"Well," he sat back as their waiter came by and took the bill book. "It's true you don't know the industry well, but you've got time to learn. I've got the business end, so all you need to focus on is creating." He shrugged, "well, there are other aspects of the position like heading the design department, of course."

She almost looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I-I haven't been in charge of anyone in a while."

He waved away her concern, "honestly? They all look about as scared as you do now, but _all_ the time." Adrien laughed, "just don't show any fear and you'll have them as spooked as my father does." He hummed in thought, "speaking of, I'll have to schedule a meeting with him for you some time soon."

"Adrien, really, I'm grateful," she gulped, "but this is all happening so fast." She shook her head, "I didn't expect this."

He sighed, "look, Marinette. I'll level with you." This was the last subject he wanted to broach, especially during an interview, but she deserved to know what she was getting into. 

"My mother was sick for a long time. Almost my entire life. And recently," he looked down at the table, doing his best to keep tears from his eyes. His voice was thick as he continued, "about three years ago, my mother passed, and at first, my father buried himself in his work. I wouldn’t even see him for days, sometimes weeks at a time. We interacted through assistants, video calls, and emails. But after a couple of years?" He met her sympathy filled eyes. "He couldn't focus, and his passion was gone. I think her death finally hit him." He shrugged, "I think it's why he's been looking to retire."

"Adrien…" she shook her head. "I'm so sorry." Her hands seemed to reach out reflexively across the table. 

He could see her rethink it the second she did it. Adrien surprised himself as his hand reached out to take it before she could pull it back. He hadn't meant to, but god, he'd _wanted_ to. "Thank you," he smiled. He hadn’t received a lot of physical comfort since Emilie's passing, and anything felt nice, even now.

She nodded slowly. "Of course. I-" she swallowed hard, squeezing his hand. "I lost my parents a while ago. I understand what you're going through." 

"Both of them?" He suddenly found himself looking at her in a whole new light. After losing his mother he had been a mess. Distant as his father was, if he had lost him too… "but-" he shook his head, suddenly confused. "I'm sorry, I thought Alya had said that Tom and Sabine were your-?"

"Oh!" Marinette suddenly turned red. "I- uh…" she chewed on her lip and looked away. “They might as well be. But… they’re not my parents.” Her face was red as she spoke to her lap, “Sabine is my… aunt. They took me in, and Alya just assumed that they were my parents after we met. In a weird way, it hurt to correct her.” She shrugged, looking at him with a sheepish expression. “Please don’t tell her. I-” She shrugged helplessly. “At this point it’s just easier for her to think they are.” 

He couldn’t help but feel admiration and sympathy for her. Adrien had wondered why she still lived with her parents, but now he understood. It must have been comforting to have someone there still. “Marinette, I-”

She shook her head, interrupting him. “Adrien, it’s okay. Really.” She smiled, her eyes glassy. “It was a while ago. And I know we don’t really know each other, but, if you need to talk to someone sometime, I get it.”

His eyes went blurry, and he found himself blinking back tears. He let out a deep breath. After his mother died, he’d been so incredibly alone, and not even Nino and Alya had really known what he was going through. For a while he buried himself in work and directionless relationships, or one night stands. In the end, the only solace in her loss he had ever found was when he sat with the stone statue of her in the garden. Sometimes he still talked to it as if she were there. He didn’t want to burden anyone with how much losing her had affected him. But knowing that Marinette understood that pain? 

Rubbing his eyes with his free hand, he smiled and cleared his throat. “Sorry. Thank you. Really.” He shrugged, “I didn’t really have anyone there after my mom died so that…” he chuckled nervously, “that means a lot.” 

Squeezing his hand again, Marinette smiled and their hands slid apart. For a little while they didn’t say anything. Their hands stayed stretched across the table, just inches apart, their eyes looking anywhere but at the person across from them. When their waiter returned with his card, and Adrien thanked him, the two rose from their seats. 

Their eyes met a couple of times as they made their way out of the restaurant, and when finally they were standing in the warm evening air, Marinette was the first to break their silence. 

“Well,” she clutched her sketchbooks tightly to her chest and laughed as she turned to face him. “This was definitely one of the more unorthodox interviews I’ve ever had.” 

He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling very exposed. Something about the table between them had helped him feel more secure. But now that they were standing across from one another, just inches apart, he found himself wanting to reach for her hand again. Silently admonishing himself, he nodded, “yeah. I can’t say I’ve ever given one quite like this. But,” he shrugged, “emotional times call for strange measures I suppose?” 

“Don’t forget what I said.” She smiled, looking up into his eyes. Her face was bathed in moonlight, and every freckle on her face stood out in the pale glow. For the first time all night, he noticed the simple black earrings she wore. “If you need to talk to someone, you’ve got my number.” Marinette shrugged, his attention drawn back to her. "I know grief can hit at weird times.

For the first time, Adrien noticed just how much shorter she was than him, and how much he would have to lean down if he wanted to... He felt his cheeks redden a little. Partially from his own line of thinking, but also because of her offer. It was a strangely intimate gesture he wasn’t used to. “Thank you.” He fidgeted a little, “I hope my family drama didn’t scare you off at all. I would love to have you.”

“Ah-” she sucked in a breath as her cheeks matched the color of her dress. A small smirk worked its way across her face as her eyes darted from his. “Still trying to make this a date, huh?”

“Work with you!” His eyes widened as he realized what he had said, and how it must have sounded. “I-I meant-!”

Putting a hand gently to his chest, she whispered, “breathe, Adrien.” She chuckled, “your heart is racing.” Marinette tugged lightly at her bottom lip with her teeth as she shook her head. “And no. I’m not scared at all.” She smiled, dropping her hand, “it’s nice to know you’re human.”

As her hand slipped from his chest, he felt himself relax. “You’re relentless.” He couldn’t help but smile, “I’ll let you know tomorrow when you can meet with my father. Do you, um…” he glanced up and down the street as cars rolled lazily past. "Need a ride home?”

Shaking her head, she chuckled, “no. I’ve got that covered.” Marinette’s deep brown eyes met his, “thank you though.” 

“Well,” he stuck his hands in his pockets before they could do something foolish. “Goodnight then, Marinette.” 

“Good night,” she smirked, “Monsieur Agreste.” 

…

* * *

…

Cuddled up to his girlfriend on their couch, Nino found himself dozing as he breathed in the scent of Alya’s hair. The blanket that was draped over them wasn’t entirely necessary given the warm night, but neither could muster the energy to move it. Something had been playing on the TV for the last hour, but neither had paid attention as they moved between heavy kisses and comfortable closeness. 

It was nights like these that he lived for. 

Cutting through the soft, sleepy, sexual tension of their lives, Nino’s phone vibrated on the end table near their heads. 

Humming, Alya chuckled sleepily, “ten bucks that’s Adrien.” 

Sitting up, Nino stretched to grab his phone. He smirked as he read the name. “I owe you.” 

Running her fingers through his hair, Alya leaned into him and gently scraped her teeth against his neck, sending shivers up his spine. “We can work out a payment plan,” she answered in a sleepy, husky voice. 

His head turned, catching her lips. As the tip of his tongue tapped against her lips, she pulled back with a grin. “Answer your phone.”

With a huff, he swiped the green button. “‘Sup, Dude?”

There was a heavy sigh from the other end. “I’m fucked, Nino.”

He cackled as Alya grabbed her buzzing phone with a smirk. “Why’s that?” 

“You were right,” he lamented. “Marinette’s hot.” He groaned, “and I’m fucked.” 

“So it _was_ a date?” Nino laughed, shaking his head. Adrien was hopeless. 

As his friend sputtered out a reply, Alya walked toward their bedroom, her phone pressed to her ear. 

“Hey, Girl,” she said, looking smug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go! Just trying to establish awkward sexual tension ;P I added slow burn to the tags for a reason! How do you all feel about this chapter? Anything I could have done better or should have done differently? Is there anything in particular that you want to see that you want me to try to work in? I won’t make any promises, but like, if I can find a place to make something fit, I’ll do my best ^.^ 
> 
> Ugh… I’ve been working on chapter 5 all week. Like… since last Friday. Idk why but, for whatever reason, chapter 5 of anything is always a massive hump for me to get over. Whether I’m reading or writing something, my brain is just like, “man, **fuck** chapter 5! Especially if I’m writing something! Chapter 5 is usually where I just… stop lol 
> 
> For reference, all of these chapters so far have been between 4500 and 5500 words. I only have like 1500 words or less to write for 5 and… it’s not like I’m not interested in it, but its just… idk. Chapter 5, man. I’ll get it done though ^.^ I don’t want to disappoint ya’ll! Or myself ;P 
> 
> Omfg and I avoided finishing my fifth chapter so much this week that I actually started writing (probably) the LAST FUCKING CHAPTER of this fic xDD I even started writing an outline for this instead of writing chapter 5. I now have a solid plan out to chapter 14 with vague plans beyond that lol Like… chapter 5 is the devil in my brain for some reason x.x
> 
> Oh! And I know you’re all wondering if we’re going to be getting Chat Noir! The answer is yes ^.^ but it won’t be until chapter 9. Ladybug doesn’t even make another appearance until the end of chapter 5. But they’ll become fairly common after that ;P 
> 
> This fic is going to be fairly long just so everybody is aware. I’m not good with short stories and one-shots are impossible for me. All my ideas for short things evolve into fully fleshed out novel length stories and I just… wish I could do something simple xD But eventually, everything I write becomes like 10k words a chapter and I just… I’m working on not doing that at least ^.^;
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next friday, or in the comment section. Whichever comes first ;P


	4. Anxious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch with the Guardian. Marinette has a mental block. More text messages. Tikki frolics through the flowers. Another awkward Adrinette phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I might post this chapter early because my wife and I have to catch a plane to go with her mom to San Francisco. My wife’s grandma died yesterday and that side of her family has yet to meet our son, so we’re doing that and I know I’m not going to have time to post after we land. 
> 
> But I got it at the airport ^.^ I love Google docs lol
> 
> But thank you everyone for your continued interest in this story! I can’t believe how many people are interested in it, but you’ve got me excited to do more with it :D All the kudos, subs, and comments are always awesome! I love seeing you guys speculate on the future plot points of this story ^.^ It makes me feel like I’m foreshadowing pretty well, and hopefully am not being boringly predictable lol 
> 
> Also, I got chapter 5 written! :D And chapter 6 is getting there… I've been sick and not really being a person ^.^; I think we’ll be fine now that we’re over the dreaded 5 hump though lol the weird thing is, rereading it, I’m actually really happy with it?? It definitely needs to be edited, but I’m satisfied ^.^ 
> 
> And… 4 ended up being a lot longer than I had intended, but 5 is still a little longer lol 
> 
> Of course chapter 6 is going to be even longer than that ^.^; But I hate when other people unnecessarily stretch out… that topic. So, I’m jamming it all into one chapter lol
> 
> So prepare for some long chapters ahead! 7 Should be back down to the normal length though. It and 8 are a bit of cool down from the craziness of 5 and 6 before Ladybug officially meets Chat Noir in 9. And then 10, we’re going to meet our main antagonists and a side one, and we’re going to get some more cutesy fluff before I frustrate the hell out of you ;P
> 
> One last thing! I had a few people ask in the comments about Marinette’s eyes being brown.  
> Yes, in this universe, Marinette has brown eyes. But! That’s because: 
> 
> a) she doesn’t have european ancestry in this fic. 
> 
> And, 
> 
> b) blue eyes are a genetic mutation that originated somewhere between the Caspian sea and Black sea (between Turkey in the West, Iran in the Southeast, and Russia to the North) around 6000 to 10,000 years ago. Marinette, being fully Chinese, was also born about 10-11,000 years ago and is older than the mutation is thought to be. 
> 
> Genetically, there is no possible way for her to have blue eyes here. 
> 
> So, sorry ya’ll. Our girl has brown eyes. 
> 
> Now, on with the show!

Placing the tea kettle on the hot pad at the center of the table, Master Fu kneeled on his cushion across the table from Marianne. To his right was Marinette, stirring a spoonful of sugar into her cup, while Tikki sat on the table across from her, sipping from her own small mug. 

Marinette let out a small contented hum. Something about Wang’s tea was always a gentle reminder of home. Frustrating as she found the man, he always felt like connection to her past. “Thank you for having us over again.” 

Nodding with a small smile, Marianne glanced at her. “We’re always happy to have you both here, dear.”

Marianne and Fu had met sometime during the second world war when he had come to Paris to act as her guardian. Marinette had returned to France in the face of the Nazi regime threatening to invade. Before then, she was constantly at work in Africa and Asia, helping to dismantle systems of European colonization, and supported several countries in their quests for self-governance. She had found Fu waiting for her. 

They worked together with the French resistance to fight against the occupation of France until the allies were able to provide the help necessary to push the Nazi’s out. 

He and Marianne had lived happily together in Paris since, while Marinette used it as a homebase to return to during her many trips abroad in the latter half of the twentieth century. Often, Shadow Cat was alone to defend Paris and France at large while she was away. The longest stint being during the early eighties to mid nineties when she lost herself in a deep depression in the United States.

She had never been forthcoming with the details of her life during that time with her partner, nor their guardian. Marinette was more than a little ashamed of how far she let herself fall in that time. More often than not, she hadn’t even allowed herself to wear her miraculous, she was so afraid of Tikki seeing her for what she’d become. 

Glancing between her guardian and his wife, Marinette smiled. “It’s always nice to stop by and see you both.” She looked to Fu, doing her best to keep annoyance from her voice. “Though, as usual, I have to ask. When are you going to find me a new partner?”

Smiling with a grandfatherly twinkle in his eye, Fu shook his head. “For your age, Marinette, you are impatient as a teenager.”

“Wang,” she deadpanned. “It’s been four years. I’ve helped liberate countries from a century of colonial rule in less time.”

“Marinette,” Tikki groaned as she admonished her chosen. “It's like I keep telling you. It takes time to locate one who is not only worthy of a miraculous, but can handle the responsibility that comes with wielding it.” She sighed as she gripped her small mug. “I waited for you for nearly half a century before they found you, you know?”

Crossing her arms, Marinette shot a soft glare at her kwami before looking back at Wang. She had told her _several_ times now. “Please don’t take another forty years. I’m seeing crime reports from time to time in the papers again.” She’d done her best to keep a lid on criminal activity in the city, but people were getting bold the longer it was just her to keep an eye on things. Ladybug couldn't be everywhere.

Wang nodded to Tikki before looking to Marinette, “patience, Ladybug. In a city as large as Paris, finding someone worthy takes time.” He shrugged as he sipped his tea, “but. It is very possible that your next partner could not come from Paris at all, or even France.” 

She groaned. Sure, she had operated independently without the aid of a Black Cat plenty of times, and she wasn’t concerned about that. But she was one of five other miraculous wielders in all of Europe, and each was stretched thin as was. With Shadow Cat’s retirement, there was no way she could leave until a new person was Chosen. 

As much as she had ignored the will of the Guardians for centuries, she had finally begun working in conjunction with their wishes within the last few decades. Maybe she was getting old, but constantly being on the move was… exhausting. If she was being honest, she didn’t want to deal with the mess of internal politics that most of the world had become. 

"You can rest when you've found the Butterfly and Peacock," they told her. But a vacation was more than earned by this point in her life, and the will of the temple left little room for having a personal life. 

Not to mention, as she had told Sabine, she didn’t trust most of the last century’s new miraculous wielders to do their jobs well. They were becoming overconfident and undertrained. 

Not to mention their youthful idealism often wore on her nerves. 

Marianne smiled at her in a grandmotherly way, “you’re getting antsy staying in one place so long, aren’t you, dear?” 

Taking a sip of her tea, Marinette nodded reluctantly. Five years was the longest she had ever stayed anywhere since she had been with Eliza. The several times she had gone to school for one degree or another had been a massive test of her patience. Four years was about the longest she could find herself staying in one place. 

But it had been different with Eliza. Fifty years with her had been one of the easiest things she’d ever done. 

Reaching her hand to Marinette’s, Marianne held it lightly and gave a gentle squeeze. “I know you want to be useful, and stay busy.” Fu’s wife always managed to put her at ease with her calming presence. Marianne was so kind and welcoming, it was hard to not feel relaxed around her. “But maybe it would be a good time to put down some roots for a bit? I know you haven’t given yourself much time to dwell on things the last forty years or so.” She patted the back of Marinette’s hand a couple of times before pulling back to grasp her cup. “You can still do plenty of good here in Paris.” 

Fu piped up, “and don’t forget the Butterfly and Peacock were last spotted here.” He gazed at her knowingly. “Sometimes, waiting has its benefits as well.”

Sighing, Marinette nodded. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before, really. But, as much as her instincts told her she needed to pack her bags and uproot her life **now** , her heart wasn’t in it. 

Alya and Nino were here. The prospect of a new career. Tom and Sabine. Wang and Marianne. 

She’d grown comfortable and had started building a life. For the first time in a long time, a part of herself had begged to settle down. And she had begun to listen. But now that she had a small life here, she didn’t know what to do next. Everything seemed to point toward staying in Paris indefinitely, and that scared her. 

Between the relationships she’d built, the prospect of a new job… 

And Adrien. 

Whatever _that_ meant. 

Her heart felt like it clenched as she tried not to think of the night before. 

Now wasn’t the time. 

Shrugging reluctantly, Marinette looked between the two. “I’m doing my best. It’s just been _so long_ since I’ve lived anywhere this long…” she sighed. “I think I’ve forgotten how to just stay in one place.”

Fu smiled over the rim of his cup. “From the stories the other guardians have told me, Ladybug, you’ve never known how to stay in one place.” 

Tikki laughed into her hands, “they’re more right than you could know, Wang!”

“Hmmp,” Marinette crossed her arms like a petulant child. “You two always gang up on me.” 

Chuckling, Fu’s expression melted into a sagely one. “If you would like to know, Marinette. I have a few potential Black Cat wielders I am keeping my eye on. But I am waiting to see something…” he shrugged, “well, miraculous worthy from them.” 

She worried her cheek, “how soon do you think?”

“If I may make a suggestion, Marinette?” He put his cup on the table.

Raising an eyebrow in question, she didn’t say a word. She did her best to brace herself, but his advice usually just pissed her off. 

“Get to know this one, and be there for them.” His voice was softer than usual. “You don’t have to take on the responsibility for the world alone.” He glanced at Marianne with warmth in his eyes, “Miraculous wielders have partners to lean on and share things with. They are there so you don’t fall apart.”

It wasn’t like she didn’t know that. Until Temujin, she had always treated her partner as an equal. But after his betrayals, keeping a partner so close felt like too great a sacrifice. Marinette hadn’t even known a Black Cat outside of the mask since him. 

She sighed, “I won’t make any promises…” Her eyes met Tikki’s hopeful ones. “But I’ll try, okay?” Her kwami smiled at her. She had wanted Marinette to open up to her partners and work with them again as a team for a long time. 

It was going to take a lot of work, but she knew she couldn’t distance herself from her partners forever. The Black Cat and the Ladybug worked best together, and she had felt herself slipping without anyone there to get her back. She often left without telling her partners where she was going, and that usually only served to damage the trust between them. 

Shadow Cat had at least understood that she needed space to herself. But they had fought a lot once he had gotten over the hero worship phase, and realized how fucked up she was. She’d told herself since he retired that she would treat her next partner better. But then, she had said that before too. 

She resolved to make an effort this time though. 

“I’ll go check on lunch,” Marianne said as she rose. She squeezed Marinette’s shoulder as she walked by.

...

* * *

...

It was past one in the afternoon as Marinette sat with her head buried in her arms at her computer desk. She had been trying to edit photos for this week’s editorial for over an hour, but her mind kept going back to last night. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling of how intensely she was attracted to Adrien. 

Every time she thought of him, she felt heartbreak anew. She knew it was ridiculous, but knowing she even had the the most remote feelings for someone caused her to start mourning them. She'd felt ill for a week when she realized how much Nino and Alya had come to mean to her.

Love and attraction were a curse, and she hated them.

Tikki nuzzled against her hair, doing her best to be supportive. As much as Marinette was grateful for the comfort her kwami tried to give, she knew that she didn’t understand. Plagg was her other half, and always had been. She’d never had to bury someone she cared for or watch a lover leave for the person they were meant for. 

A small sniffle made her realize that tears were quietly rolling down her cheeks, and Marinette sat up. She wiped at her eyes with the heels of her hands and groaned. On her monitor was an image that so far had been cropped in an hour’s progress. 

“It’s not a bad thing to feel, Marinette.” Tikki leaned her forehead against her chosen. “It’s all a part of being human.” 

“So is dying,” she muttered bitterly. Marinette threw up her hands before pressing closed fists to her forehead. “It’s not just that, TIkki. I screwed up!” She shook her head, “I told him my parents were dead? Why did I say that?” 

Her kwami shook her head, “you were just trying to relate to him. You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“But I _did!_ ” She huffed. “If anyone goes digging in my past, they’re going to find me just popping into existence in nineteen forty with the french resistance as an adult.” She scoffed, “how do I explain that?” Shaking her head, she rubbed the bridge of her nose with closed eyes. “I didn’t expect modern record keeping to get so meticulous,” she muttered. 

The rapid progress of the last century still baffled her. The vast majority of her life, she had gone without the most basic of things like electricity and indoor plumbing. And now? Now people’s lives were as easy to track down as a recipe. And all with a few keystrokes. Every time she turned on a computer, it was a reminder of how impossibly old she was. 

The monitor went blank as Tikki pressed the power button. “It’s time to take a break.” Nodding toward the window, her kwami grinned. “You’re not going to get anything done right now, so let’s go for a walk.”

The blue sky outside looked too cheerful for how terrible Marinette felt, and her meeting with Fu today hadn’t make her feel any better. 

It was getting harder and harder every century to hold on. The more she lived, the more Marinette felt stretched too thin, and she was afraid that someday she was going to break. 

Loving people though? It took a toll. 

Every time she gave her heart to someone, she felt as if she never truly got that piece back. She had left pieces of herself all over the globe, and she was afraid if she let herself love again, that she would shatter. Marinette felt so fragile now, the thought of loving someone felt like the worst form of torture. 

No matter what, she couldn’t let herself do it again. 

She wouldn’t. Even if this little crush was the death of her, she wouldn’t.

No matter how much his smile made her heart flutter. 

Nevermind the fact that she had dreamt of his arms around her as she snuggled safely into his secure embrace. 

No matter how desperately her body screamed to be touched by him, she wouldn’t do it again. 

She’d denied herself that much for the last five hundred years. What was another sixty? 

Marinette let out a ragged sigh. Once he was dead, then she would be fine. 

And what was that kind of time, but a blink of the eye for her?

Pushing herself up from the table, Marinette cracked her neck. “Yeah, fine.” She grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair, “let’s go for a walk.”

As she stepped from the side door of the bakery, she pulled her phone and glanced through the eight messages from Alya, and another four from Nino. 

_ Fri at 9:22am _  
**Alya:**  
_So how long before you bang model boy? ; D_

_ Fri at 10:15am _  
**Alya:**  
_Girl, I know he’s going to be your boss, but HE’S  
INTO YOU. _

_And I know you’re into him._

_Get on that ;D_

_ Fri at 11:55am _  
**Alya:**  
_Or not?_

_Are you okay?_

_You know you can talk to me, right? <3_

_You can tell me I’m overstepping._

Rolling her eyes as she walked up the street to her car, her fingers danced over the screen as she tried to think of a reply. 

When Alya had come over yesterday, Marinette had let herself get lost in the fun of figuring out her outfit. It had been so long since she'd been giddy over another person, she'd ridden the high of that feeling while forgetting why she had avoided it. 

She was an addict having a relapse.

And after the interview slash date she had called Alya to decompress. So much had happened, and her emotions had been going haywire. Her friend had hardly helped her calm down. 

Now today, Marinette felt hungover as the reality of where these emotions led settled on her mind. Her body screamed to be touched, held, pleasured, tickled, _anything_ , so long as Adrien was the one doing it. Meanwhile, her mind was simultaneously floating on air while crashing in despair as it braced itself to be abandoned again when he found his soulmate.

Why had she admitted being attracted to him? Now that she knew, Alya would never let up. 

Knowing that he was likely attracted to her too didn’t help.

And on top of it, Marinette had made it so that there was a high likelihood of seeing him on a daily basis. If Gabriel Agreste liked her designs even half as much as Adrien did, then the chances of her working there were high and then that was it. She would be locked in to daily existential misery either until she got over him, or the rest of his life.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed in frustration. Maybe she could fake her death and move somewhere far away, like Azerbaijan. She could spend a couple of centuries in obscurity there.

As she slid into the driver's seat of her car, Tikki cleared her throat and Marinette looked down to see her poking her head from her bag. The kwami stared sternly at her, like a mother scolding her child. "I know that look Marinette. You can't fake your death, _again_ , just to get out of something."

Ripping her eyes from Tikki back to her phone, she muttered, "it's worked before." She tapped Nino’s message, hoping it would offer some sanity. 

_ Fri at 12:13pm _  
**Nino:**  
_Hey, Nette, could you message Al? Please? She’s  
lowkey freaking out for five completely different reasons  
involving you. _

_For my sake?_

_Also! Could you try to go easy on Adrien? My boy is  
into you, like Alya said, but… he’s got a lot on his plate right  
now, and he’s trying to do what’s best for their company too. _

_I’m not saying don’t go for it! Just… keep that in mind,  
yeah? He’s doing his best to keep his cool and having  
someone he could be close to would go a long way  
for him. _

_The dude only talks about like a third of what he’s  
feeling, and even then, you have to wonder how much  
of that it what’s actually going on. He’s been the face of a  
company for so long he forgets he’s allowed to feel things.  
Be easy on him, please?_

Reading Nino’s messages was a relief after Alya’s. Knowing that Adrien was also interested in her had freaked her out quite a bit. But if he was also trying to be cautious and fighting his instincts like she was… she could work with that. 

She replied, starting with Nino.

__

_ Fri at 2:02pm _  
_Thank you, Nino. I actually haven't had feelings for anyone  
in… a while. I'm honestly a little freaked out and I don't think I  
couldn't handle more than being his employee. Rip to Adrien, but  
I'm not interested in anyone but a soulmate atm. _

_It's just… not worth the heartache, you know? But I feel like he  
would still be a great friend to have if nothing else. Nvm that he'll  
be my boss xD_

She reread the messages a couple of times before hitting send. It was good. It didn't deny her feelings or try to make light of the situation, and still managed to shut down the possibility of there being more.

That was what she wanted, right? 

To be alone? 

A tendril of loneliness wrapped her heart and squeezed it, reminding her of how much holding his hand last night had meant. Which was silly! She wasn't touch-starved! She hugged Alya, Nino, Tom, and Sabine all the time! She and Alya snuggled on the couch once or twice a week, and Tikki always cuddled with her when they went to bed. 

So why had Adrien's touch been different? 

She rolled her eyes at the thought. 

He was hot for one. It _had_ been a while since she'd… _been_ with anyone. 

The early eighties and most of the nineties had been spent in a drug fueled haze in the nihilism of the American punk scene. The combination of widely available birth control, rampant drug use, and a deep depression had admittedly not been the most productive way to drown her feelings.

The few times she had worn her miraculous in that time, Tikki hadn't been thrilled with her choices to say the least. And she never exactly told Tom or Sabine what she had been doing. Not that they really cared all that much. They had been being disgustingly lovey, and Marinette had needed some time away from it. So, while they got married, started the bakery, and raised Constance, she drank and fucked her feelings away and numbed herself any way she could.

It had taken her a while to come around to the straightedge movement. But watching a lot of her friends succumb to addiction, violence, their own mental health, and the AIDs epidemic had been clear signs for her. 

She got help, grew out her mohawk, hung up her studded leather jacket for a backpack, and had gone back to Paris to study fashion. 

The leather jacket was still hanging in her closet though. She just hadn't been able to bring herself to get rid of it.

It took her several minutes, but she finally messaged Alya. 

__

_ Fri at 2:04pm _  
_Maybe overstepping a little. I just don’t want to rush into  
anything with someone again unless I know I’m supposed  
to be with them. I’m lonely yeah, but… I want my soulmate,  
you know? :/_

_Plus, you know I’m not into just hooking up with people.  
ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO BE MY  
BOSS! _

_Besides, I don’t even know if this boy can keep up with me. You  
think he’d be into coming to the Guerilla Poubelle show with us  
on Wednesday? How am I supposed to date a boy who I haven’t  
even seen take a hit? ;P _

_Not that I’m looking to date him that is!_

_But like… he looks breakable lol_

She smirked as she dropped her phone into a cup holder and started the car. That wasn’t a lie at least. Adrien looked like he was made of porcelain.

Beautiful, muscular, sexy, porcelain. 

Besides, the soulmate card was always an easy one to play. People tended to dance around the subject when they knew she had been single for a while. Granted it hurt to say it, because deep down, it would never stop being true. She wanted a soulmate more than anything. 

But for Marinette… it just wasn't realistic.

Pulling into traffic, she made for the nineteenth arrondissement and the Buttes-Chaumont park. It was one of her favorite spots in the city, and she had walked and run it’s paths more times than she could count. There was no where else quite like it in Paris, and in the right places, she could almost forget that she was in a highly populated city. 

If not for all the people who frequented the park as well, that is. 

Even with mid-day traffic, she made relatively good time, and even found a place to park her car within a couple of blocks. Grabbing her bag and phone, she locked her car and headed for the park. 

She looked down at her bag with a small huff, “you were right, okay?” 

“Hmm?” Tikki looked up at her Chosen from the depths of the cracked open bag with a raised eyebrow. 

“It’s beautiful today, and it’s making me feel better,” she grumbled. 

“Well, you’re the grumpiest happy person I’ve ever seen.” Tikki laughed. 

Marinette snorted as she unlocked her phone to find several new messages. There were a couple from Alya, another couple from Nino, and even one from Adrien. She’d be checking that one last. 

_ Fri at 2:19pm _  
**Alya:**  
_Sorry, Girl. I gotcha though, I’ll lay off. But if  
he does turn out to be your soulmate, I get to give  
you the biggest I Told You So! ;P_

_Idk but I’ll ask. Seeing if Adrien could handle a punk  
show honestly sounds hilarious! xD He’s so proper  
and polite, I wouldn’t be surprised if he apologized to  
people he pushed in a pit :P_

Walking through the park, Marinette enjoyed the sun as it warmed her skin. A gentle breeze blew in off of the water from the artificial lake and tickled the loose small hairs along the back and side of her head.

She found a spot next to a tree offering plenty of shade with a large flower bed ringing it. Down the steady slope, the water glinted with sun far below the Temple de la Sybille perched high above the rest of the park. 

Several people were stretched out on the lawn not far away, but she enjoyed this spot a lot. It might not be private but it was gorgeous nonetheless. And no matter how long she had lived, Marinette always loved to people watch. 

She gave her purse a small nudge, "we're here."

A small giggle came from her bag and it rustled for a moment before a red blur shot out into the flowerbed. The blooms danced as Tikki raced through the tall stems, collecting pollen, and reveling in the scents of warm earth and blooming flora. 

Nothing ever made her kwami quite so happy as flowers on a warm day. And on more than one occasion, Marinette had caught her eating pests that were dining on the blooms. She insisted that aphids and macarons had a similar flavor, but Marinette didn't see it. 

Not that she'd tried them to compare. 

More than once.

Unlocking her phone, she glanced at the message from Nino.

_ Fri at 2:18pm _  
**Nino:**  
_I get it. I'd be a wreck without Al. And thanks. I know  
Adrien feels the same way. But he dates out of loneliness  
from time to time. He's not too good at being lonely. _

_But he's a great person to be friends with for sure! He  
gets a solid 9/10 ^.^ it'd be a 10, but Alya has the only  
one I've got <3_

Marinette rolled her eyes. They were disgusting. 

Not that she was jealous or anything. 

She switched to Adrien’s message, not quite feeling up to replying yet. 

_ Fri at 2:21pm _  
** Adrien: **  
_I should have a time for you to meet with my father soon.  
The man is elusive like a unicorn. But with like… goblin  
ancestry. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve got one though._

Almost as soon as she finished reading the message, her phone buzzed harshly against her fingers as it displayed an incoming call. 

Adrien Agreste. 

She huffed, praying she wouldn’t make a fool of herself, and pressed answer. “Hello?”

“Good afternoon!” He sounded chipper today. “I’ve returned from the goblin cave with an answer.” 

She chuckled, “well, aren’t you a brave knight?”

“Not really,” he laughed. “I’m about to send a princess into it after all.”

“Please,” she scoffed. “I kick too much ass to be a princess.” Not to mention she had played the part of royalty. It was overrated. 

“Hmm,” he hummed thoughtfully. “A kung-fu princess huh?” 

She arched an eyebrow, her tone even as she asked, “did you say kung-fu because I’m Chinese?”

“Uhh…” He paused, a small note of panic rising in his throat. “N-no! No I just-” 

Marinette cackled, “easy Agreste.” She shrugged, “You were spot on. I’ve trained pretty thoroughly in Eagle Claw Kung-fu.” And Judo. Jiu Jitsu, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and various styles of northern and southern Praying Mantis boxing.

“You’re mean!” Adrien gasped.

“Just wanted to see if I could make you squirm,” she smirked. 

“Well congrats,” he muttered dryly. “Anyway!” He cleared his throat, “it looks like my father can meet with you either tomorrow or Monday about ten o’clock. Do one of those work for you?”

She thought for a moment. "Yeah, tomorrow should be perfect actually."

"That's probably for the best." He agreed.

"For the best?" Something about that worried her.

"Well…" he chuckled, "he'll probably be expecting you to start with him on Monday, so you'll have a day to rest before the insanity begins." 

"Uh…" did he forget she had another job? "I still have to give notice for _Paris Soir_ before I can start." She felt that panic start to rise again. This was happening so fast! "And that's _if_ he even wants me!"

"Marinette, you need to give yourself more credit." His voice softened and he sounded so reassuring, it was hard not to believe him. "You're work really is something special. He probably won't act like it, but he's impressed with you."

"What?" She felt so blindsided by the idea of Gabriel Agreste being impressed by her work that she didn't realize she'd spoken.

Adrien laughed. "I promise! And…" he made a small noise. Somehow it conveyed some sense of guilt. "I mean… he'll probably just tell you to quit the magazine."

"I-" several protests died on her lips. "I can't just quit!" Her column for next week was mostly done. There were just a couple of images she still needed to edit, and she had to do final revisions for the written portion. "I-I need t-to give notice and- and-"

He laughed sounding almost confused about her hesitation. "Why?"

“It’s not professional, and-” she was actually having a hard time coming up with reasons. “And, they’ll never be a decent reference on my resume. I’ve been there for five years.” By the time she finished her voice had gotten very quiet. 

“Well,” he sounded like he was resisting the urge to laugh at her and his voice was annoyingly controlled. “If all goes well with Gabriel, then you won’t need to worry about your resume again. It’s a bit of a decades kind of career.” Adrien suddenly sounded concerned, “you realize that, as long as you don’t screw this up, this should probably be your last job, right?” 

A slow breath escaped her lips as she tried to ground herself. Realistically, for anyone else, that was pretty easy to grasp. But Adrien had no idea who he was speaking with. “I- uh… yeah. Yeah, of course I do!” Did she really want to do this? In sixty years time, she would probably end up having to fake her death to get out of this one anyways. 

Suddenly, she felt Azerbaijan calling her name again. It wasn’t like she was hurting for money. She’d saved enough through the centuries that she technically would never have to work again. But she’d tried it before, and had gotten dreadfully bored. Sure she had stints where she didn’t work, and devoted herself to one thing or another around the globe, but eventually she would always settle back down somewhere. 

Then again, relocating and becoming someone else in the modern age came with its own set of challenges. She’d been Marinette since nineteen thirty-eight, and since then, trying to change her identity had become more of a daunting thing to do. Between digital recordkeeping, having a solid paper trail, and governments tracking people’s every move, she wasn’t sure if it would even be something that could feasibly be done in this day and age. 

While she knew there were people who could make it happen for a price, Marinette didn’t feel comfortable having anyone know at all. Nevermind how to find them. And she knew she didn’t possess the skills necessary to do it on her own. She almost missed the dark ages thinking about it. Back then all she had to do was wander into a town, say she was another person and… then she was. 

“Just making sure,” Adrien said, sounding relieved. “I don’t want to make you feel trapped in something you’re not prepared for.” 

“No,” she did her best to play off her nervousness. “No it’s okay, really. It’s just a lot happening at once.” Marinette laughed nervously. “I mean at the beginning of this week, I had no idea! And now… well…” 

“I guess I see your point…” he trailed off for a moment. “Sorry for changing your life in the course of three days?” 

She snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. “No you’re not.” 

“Yeah,” she could just see him nodding. “You’re right.” 

They both laughed together for a moment before settling into a silence that felt strangely comfortable. After a moment, he cleared his throat again. 

“So uh… tomorrow?” 

“Yeah?” His voice broke her from the sudden feeling of serenity that had washed over her. 

“Try to get here about nine forty-five and I’ll give you some hints to survive my dad.” 

“Thanks,” she chuckled.

“Oh!” He suddenly sounded excited. “I almost forgot! I’m grabbing lunch with Nino and Alya tomorrow around noon. Do you... want to tag along?” 

“Hmm,” she hummed. “Trying to get another date out of me, huh?” 

“Unbelievable,” he huffed. “You take a girl to one reasonably priced restaurant for the evening, and suddenly she’s trying to trick you into dating her.” 

“Reverse psychology won’t work here, Fancy Boy.” She grinned, “you’re pretty obviously trying to ease me into dating you.” Why was flirting with him this easy? And why did she like doing it so much?

“Well, that all depends on whether or not it’s working,” he replied coyly. 

Her jaw dropped. Was he serious? He sounded serious. “Ah- answer unclear, ask again later.” She closed her eyes as they rolled into the back of her head. It’s not like it wasn’t normal to freeze up and become a magic 8-ball. 

Right?

Adrien laughed easily, “okay, I’ll check back tomorrow.”

“Uh…” fuck, if he was serious… she wasn’t sure she would say no. Everything in her screamed at her to say no, except her stupid, metaphorical, desperate, piece of shit, heart. “Well, I need to get going to lunch with some friends, Adrien.” It was the best out she had, even if she had already done that. Marinette was going to need some time to sit here and decompress. Maybe she’d meditate for a bit. She hadn’t yet today.

“Oh, yeah okay. I-I should be going too.” He laughed awkwardly, “business to run and all!” 

“Yeah!” Oh god, it was weird now. She’d made it weird. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat again, “and, uh… Marinette? Sorry if I freaked you out. I was just kidding.” Adrien gave another awkward laugh, “No pressure!” 

“Thanks!” This call just needed to end. She needed to rip the bandaid off now! “Uh, well. Bye!” 

Before he could even finish saying bye, she tapped the little red button on her phone that was her savior. Marinette dropped to her back, spreading her limbs in the grass as she stared into the foliage above her. Why was her life like this?

“You know?” Tikki’s asked from the flowerbed, “I think that might have been more painful to listen to than the last one.” 

“Shut up, Tikki.” She covered her face with her hands as she tried to melt into the ground. 

...

* * *

…

With his head on his desk, Adrien released a slow breath as he dropped the phone back into its cradle. He was going to be her boss. He needed to act like her fucking _boss_.

A high judgemental voice asked from the the other side of his desk, “what the fuck was _that_?” 

Right, he’d forgotten she was here. 

“Do you speak like that with all your prospective employees, Adrikins?” Chloé fixed him with her ice blue eyes, her lips set in an evenly puckered line. He really wished that nickname would die already, but getting Chloé to stop had proved an impossible feat. 

“Not uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck as he sat up straight. “Not typically, no.” He reached for the nearest stack of paper as he tried to get his head in order. 

He knew he should have waited to make that call until she was gone. But she was there to discuss plans for a charity gala being held at her hotel, and Gabriel was the sponsor. It was going to be at least a couple of hours before they had finished figuring out logistics, and he didn't want to make Marinette wait that long.

She suddenly gasped, and leaned forward with a glint in her eye. “Does my wittle Adwikins have a wittle cwush on someone?” 

Shooting a glare across the desk, he looked down at the page on top of the stack. “Can you please not use the baby voice?” 

“Hmmph,” Chloé sat back with a pout, “why don’t you children ever talk to us adults about what you’re feeling?” 

He rolled his eyes. She loved to play _that_ game. Just because she had found her soulmate and had actually aged beyond eighteen… “I’m older than you,” he muttered for what felt like the millionth time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this chapter! I kind of felt like it was a weird transition chapter, but I’m not unhappy with it. It’s just a few things that needed to happen to properly set up the coming plot points. 
> 
> But what do you think so far? The next chapter is definitely going to introduce some heavy changes to things thus far, and the pacing of things is going to pick up a little bit for sure. 
> 
> Something funny that happened when I was initially writing this chapter was I went looking for French punk bands that are active today that Marinette and the gang might go to see. I listened to a few and, I’m pretty into punk rock to begin with, but I’ve actually started listening to French punk now when I’m writing this xD I speak just enough French that I can catch a bit here and there, but I just love listening to the language lol especially mixed with a solid beat. 
> 
> My favorites that I’ve found so far are;  
> [Guerilla Poubelle](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEFgw-7r5wkwsEDffaUQCw) They’ve got a classic punk garage band sound. That’s who the group is going to see in a few chapters ^.^  
> [Les Sales Majestés](https://www.youtube.com/user/LesSalesMajestes) They’re an older band from 77, but they’re still active today. They dance like a bunch of old white guys in their videos though xD It’s painful, but their music is good lol they remind me of a French version of Bad Religion, but a little harder. And they started three years earlier!  
> [Tagada Jones](https://www.youtube.com/user/tagadajonesofficiel) They’re more hardcore punk/thrash metal, but they’re really good for when I’m wanting to write an action sequence ;D Not to mention they would be a great show to mosh to! 
> 
> Now, I just wish I could find a good all chick French punk band… like… any :(
> 
> Fun fact: My son finds both the French language and Punk Rock soothing lol so it’s just an awesome bonus to be able to listen to French punk music during his nap times xD
> 
> I know you’re thinking it, and your right. This fic is nothing but shameless self-projection lol 
> 
> But next week, we’ve got the dreaded interview with Gabriel! And Ladybug is delivered an ultimatum ;D See you commenters down below, and the rest of ya’ll next friday!


	5. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elevators are scary. Gabriel Agreste has a Marinette folder. Ladybug stops some petty theft, is upgraded a nemesis. You're fired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the continued support of this story! I'm so happy it's being so well received ^.^ all the kudos, bookmarks, and comment mean the world! <3 Every time my wife catches me checking this story's stats, she asks me how my validation is going xD But we're both Leo's and act the part so… you know :P She's not _entirely_ wrong ^.^;
> 
> Now, I'm gonna complain for a minute. 
> 
> Omg these past 2 weeks have been terrible! I got sick from one of the kids I teach swim lessons to, and then as I got better, my son got it >.< the night before last I got an hour of sleep because my son passed it to my wife, and he wanted to sleep _ON_ her, but she couldn't breathe, and he was miserable and I had him in our baby-chest-carrier thing and had to bounce him all night to get any sleep at all out of him. 
> 
> So then I was in grumpy mom mode, because I only had an hour and a half of sleep, and was only just starting to feel like a person again x.x omfg a sick baby is the worst. He has made writing/editing impossible because he just wants me to stand and bounce him like… all day >.< I love this kid but omg I want to scream! Having him cuddle into my shoulder and be all needy for affection makes it worth it though <3 I’ve never gotten so many snuggles from him ;_; 
> 
> Anyway! Complaining over ^.^
> 
> Kinda lol editing this chapter, I realized I just… don't like it? Idk why I mean it's fine, but for some reason my brain insists it's garbage. There's an annoying lack of awkward flirting… they just wouldn't do it. Marinette was too nervous, and Adrien was on his best behavior. 
> 
> Also, I think it might just be a little meatier as far as information and things happening and lighter on the introspection. And I'm a massive slut for some introspection if you haven't noticed xD
> 
> Tell me what y'all think. 
> 
> Oh yeah, and chapter 6? It's the longest one so far at a solid 7400 words lol this one is about 6600 and is the second longest chapter so far. I may or may not be doing the steadily increasing chapter length thing again ^.^; But yeah! Get ready to settle into that monster next week!
> 
> And that's about it! Here's your garbage chapter, you bunch of Trash Pandas ;P

Flats tapping loudly as she hurried into the cavernous reception area for Gabriel, Marinette put her hand against a polished marble column to catch her breath. The clock on the wall told her it was nine fifty. She was only slightly late for being early for the first time in her life. Her eyes darted around for a directory, but her search was cut short as a familiar face approached her with a welcoming smile that made her heart flutter. 

“I almost thought you wouldn’t make it,” Adrien held out his arms in a loose gesture. 

She smiled, “almost!” Her heart sped up seeing him, and she did her best to steady herself. She glanced at his arms and, thinking he was opening them for a hug, Marinette took a hesitant step forward, her arms raising. 

At the same moment he looked up, gesturing around the room, and twisted left to right with a wry smirk, “welcome to my father’s temple to fashion.” He turned back to her, his arms dropping just as she realized her mistake and resumed normal posture. 

She resisted the urge to fidget in embarrassment. He hadn’t seen right? Marinette prayed to all the gods that rested in magic jewelry that he hadn’t noticed. Of course he wouldn’t be trying to hug her now! She needed to get it together. 

Marinette glanced around with a small nod, “its…” 

“Gaudy? Cold? A mausoleum? Overcompensating?” He grinned. 

She blinked, “I… was going to say impressive.” 

Chuckling into his hand, Adrien nodded. “At first glance, I’m sure.” He glanced at the sparsely furnished open floor. 

The columns radiated in paired rows toward each wall from a central pillar, around which two banks of elevators stood at each side. A few plants were spaced between the columns here and there. The back half of the floor was dominated by a grand staircase which led to a central landing at the back wall. The landing fed into a smaller staircase on the left and right and led to the upper floors. 

To either side of the grand staircase were sitting areas, sparsely furnished with plush white chairs and a black rug. In the front left quadrant of the floor from the entrance was a long reception desk of gleaming oak. Opposite it, in the right quadrant was a large fountain, inside of which many large orange koi swam haphazardly. There was little ornamentation save for blown up photos of Gabriel designs from past seasons that were hung and spaced sparingly on the walls. 

Adrien shrugged, “You’ll realize pretty quickly that this building represents all of my fathers warmth.” He nodded toward the elevators, “but you’ll see that in a few.” He started walking. 

Staring in bewilderment after him, she hurried after and fell into step beside him a moment later. “You don’t seem very fond of your father.” It was like every word about the man was a subtle barb. Marinette recalled his comment about his childhood and couldn’t help but wonder how much of it had been a joke.

She noticed him shrug from the corner of her eye. “I mean, I love him, don’t get me wrong. But…” he hummed, “he’s never been the most affectionate person, and he can come across as cold and unfeeling.” He gave a dry laugh as he pressed the elevator call button. “And those are his good days.” 

“Oh.” Marinette wasn’t sure what else to say to that. “You um… mentioned tips to... survive him?” Had he meant it literally? It had been decades since she had met anyone intimidating enough to shake her. But then there was first for everything she supposed.

“Yeah,” he nodded as the elevator doors slid silently open. He gestured for her to go ahead of him, and she stepped quickly inside. “Maintain eye contact with him as much as you can. If you break, he’ll take it as a sign of weakness and walk all over you.” He pressed the button for the top floor, several stories above them. “You’ll want to maintain an uncomfortable level of eye contact. If you feel like you should look away, don’t. It’ll feel like you’re making it weird, but it’s not you, it’s him, I assure you.” He smirked, “if it seems like he hates you, that means you’ll be fine.”

As the elevator doors shut, Marinette slipped her hand around the interior handrail and tightened her fist to a white knuckled grip. She’d loathed elevators since their invention, and they always made her nervous. Trusting her life to a small metal box moving up several hundred feet had never seemed a sane option. She did her best to concentrate on Adrien’s voice as the cage rose. 

Seeming unaware of her dilemma, Adrien continued. “Try not to ramble. He hates rambling.” He tapped his chin absentmindedly. “He’ll never give you an outright compliment on your work, so if it seems like he’s being a bit backhanded, that’s just his version of critiquing.” He shrugged, “You should be fine though. I noticed him quirk his eyebrows a little every time I showed him your work. That’s actually a _good_ thing. It usually means he’s having trouble finding fault with something.” He chuckled, “he rarely likes anyone else’s work, and I think it confuses him a bit when he can’t find a correction.”

There was an almost imperceptible bump as the elevator rose, and Marinette’s heart jumped immediately to her throat. When they’d first become standard, she’d been in an elevator that had fallen several stories. She had been so paralyzed with fear, she hadn’t been able to call for her transformation to protect her. Any motion that felt out of the ordinary always made her fear it would happen again. 

Tikki’s healing powers were all that saved her life then. 

There were halfway up as Adrien tapped his chin in thought. “Let’s see,” he glanced at her, and turned at the waist toward her. “Are you okay?” 

Nodding vigorously, she shot him a weak smile. “Mmhmm,” she hummed. Her grip tightened a little and she noticed that her hand hurt. “Just hate long elevator rides.” If she worked here, she would definitely take the stairs most days, no matter how far up the building she worked. She was in decent enough shape from years spent as Ladybug, so it would be far easier for her than it would be for most. 

“Well, thankfully the building is only thirty five stories,” he chuckled as though it were a private joke, “nowhere near as large as the monstrosity that Monpartnasse is.” 

She had been up Montparnasse on a couple of occasions, and both of them had been terrible. After attempting to take the stairs up, she had given up at the fortieth floor and taken the elevator the rest of the way. Getting down was as easy as transforming and taking a running leap.

A nervous chuckle fell from her lips, “y-yeah, it’s an eyesore!” A silence settled between them for a moment and she glanced up at the display that read the floor they were on. It was twenty-seven. Marinette closed her eyes tightly and let out a slow breath. It was hard to keep the panic under control, but she was managing. “C-could you please keep talking?” The silence was worse with nothing to distract her. 

“Oh uh… yeah.” Adrien cleared his throat, “so when you meet him, definitely don’t mention my mother. He would hate that I told you about her. Um… what else?” 

He was silent for a moment, and her eyes flicked up to see they were on thirty-two. Just three more floors. The memory of his hand in hers, the gentle caring squeeze back and forth, rose in her mind. More than anything, Marinette wanted to reach for his hand and hold it rather than the cold metal rail. 

“Oh!” Adrien shook his head, “I can’t believe I almost forgot! His assistant Nathalie will be hovering like a gargoyle over his shoulder with an unsettlingly neutral expression. You’ll probably feel her sizing you up and staring you down the entire time.” He shrugged. “That’s also normal. But she probably won’t say much, so you don’t need to worry about her.” 

Finally the elevator doors opened and Marinette was out the second there was room enough for her to step through. She turned with a sheepish grin back at Adrien and a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.”

He shook his head, “no, don’t be.” He shrugged as he exited after her. “It happens.” 

The elevator opened into a straight hallway lined with black and white marble, and decorated sparsely. Framed designs lined the walls, and at the far end, there were large potted ferns flanking solid oak double doors.

Glancing back over his shoulder, Adrien raised his eyebrow. “Are you coming?”

She nodded, forcing a smile. Stepping up the hall, she managed to even out her breathing. Marinette smirked, “your father has a flair for the dramatic, I see.” 

Shaking his head as they reached the doors, Adrien chuckled quietly. “You have no idea.” A hand went to the knob and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Ready?”

With a small nod, she exhaled as he opened the doors. The office beyond was huge, encompassing half of the floor. As with the ground floor, there was a large amount of open space. To the left, there was a large conference table, and a screen set into the wall. On the right was an expansive drafting area supplied with sketching materials and digital drawing displays. Bolts of cloth and spools of string sat in cubby holes in the wall above a large sewing machine. 

The back half of the office stood at a raised section above the foreground with a staircase centered and leading up. Along the base of the lower wall, a small stream of water circulated and traveled beneath the short staircase. On either side of the low wall, water fell from a small outlet where it ringed the upper floor. 

Centered with the staircase, just visible from the doorway, was a massive desk that sat facing the doors. Sitting behind it was a man that made Marinette think of a hawk, his eyes and hair a steely grey, with his face set in a permanent look of disappointment. Behind him stood a women with an equally stoic expression, a tablet clutched to her chest. Their glasses glinted dangerously in the morning sun. 

Without missing a beat, Adrien stepped forward, and Marinette caught up with him after she found herself staring around the massive office. 

She couldn’t help but wonder how this was not Adrien’s if he was the CEO. 

Together they climbed the steps, and he led Marinette to the desk where a single wooden chair sat facing the duo. 

“Father, Nathalie, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien’s voice carried clearly as they came to a stop before them. 

Rising from his chair, Gabriel bent at the waist and reached over the desk with an extended hand. Marinette quickly placed her hand in his and gripped firmly as they shook. “A pleasure.” His expression barely moved. 

As their hands separated, Gabriel returned to his seat and gestured toward the chair in front of Marinette. “Please, sit. We have much to discuss.” 

“Thank you,” she smiled, though he didn’t return the sentiment, and took her seat. She looked to Adrien, “and thank you for showing me the way, Adrien.” 

“Of course,” his eyes met hers for a moment and they shared a small smile before he turned and started walking toward the doors. “I’ll leave the three of you to it then.” 

Until the doors clicked shut, Gabriel sat behind the desk with his piercing gaze trained on Marinette. She did her best not to fidget under his intense gaze. Finally, his lip ticked at the corner before he spoke. “You are on a first name basis with my son?”

She blinked. Why was _that_ his first question? Marinette gave a small nod, “we know one another through mutual friends. He insisted.” Was that the correct way to respond to him? She didn’t want to be so short in her answers that she came off as dismissive. Everything that Adrien had told her floated to the front of her brain and she did her best not to panic. 

It was just her fashion idol. No big deal. 

If she screwed up this interview, then hey, she would be back where she was and… well… 

She had to admit. That thought stung. 

Gabriel gave a single curt nod, “I see.” He looked down at a folder on his desk and flipped it open. “You will of course refrain from engaging in any sort of romantic relationship with my son during your tenure with us.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the naked accusation, “o-of course, sir! It would be unprofessional.” She could hear Adrien saying as much in her memory of their dinner, and she did her best to tamp down the disappointment that rose in her chest again. 

His eyes flicked up to look at her with a small smirk that didn’t quite touch his eyes. “You may relax, Marinette. I assure you, I am not the vulture Adrien surely told you I am.” 

She could feel her cheeks warm as her lips fell apart in slight surprise. Marinette recovered a moment later and smiled, “he never used the word vulture.” 

Resting his elbows on his desk, Gabriel steepled his hands and pressed them to his chin. “His view of me is a bit skewed due to my absence in his upbringing, I am afraid.” He nodded to her, “please, tell me a bit about yourself.” 

Mind going blank, Marinette wanted to glance at the file on his desk, but she couldn’t be sure of what he did and didn’t know already. “Well,” she began, trying to keep from panicking. It would be best to stick to the facts, she decided. “I received my degree in fashion design and business at L.I.S.A.A. School of Design in two-thousand two. Before that, I studied extensively across many different styles of design and put together several of my own small collections, though admittedly, none of them have ever existed beyond my sketches.” 

Gabriel nodded, glancing again at her file. “I am aware you are very qualified.” He looked back up to meet her eye, his expression as stoic as when she walked in. “In truth, your work is very impressive. You would not be here if it were not.” He quirked an eyebrow at her, “I am however very intrigued to hear why you waited so long to pursue a career in fashion, given your age?” 

Marinette’s blood ran cold. How old did he think she was? She did her best to maintain a neutral expression while inwardly cursing modern record keeping. She offered a small shrug, “I didn’t realize the passion I held for the field until the late nineties. Before that I was traveling.” She gave a knowing smile, “student visas made it easy to jump from place to place.”

He nodded again as if in understanding. “I can imagine that it would be hard to keep busy for so many years without finding your soul partner.” He actually smiled for a moment before it vanished from his face. “Looking at you, it is hard to believe that you are nearly fifty years my senior. But, your resume is an impressive reminder.”

He cleared his throat before reading, “a member of the French Resistance and later the FFI, and finally rising to the rank of Commandant in the First Army. You then joined the Foreign Legion and fought in the Algerian Civil War where you were wounded and attained French citizenship. All of this before being discharged in nineteen-sixty five?” He actually looked impressed. “I am curious though, the earliest record of you I could find was from nineteen thirty-nine. What were you doing prior to the world war? And why did you feel compelled to help France?”

Of course her military career would be available in public records. She should have expected as much. She wracked her brain for Marinette’s backstory. “Well,” she licked her lips. “I was born in North Vietnam in,” she quickly did the math so as not to age herself too far, “nineteen eighteen. My parents moved us to France in twenty-five. I believe it was to escape the tensions of East Asia’s occupation.” She shrugged, “I did my best to fit in as a child and got the education my parents hoped for until the Germans occupied us. After that, I joined the Resistance.” 

Marinette had spent the first thirty-seven years of the twentieth century in Africa and Asia, working to loosen the grip of European holdings in the regions with little success. While she hadn't heard about World War One until ten years after the fact, the rise of the Nazi regime reached her, and she had felt compelled to act. She’d journeyed to France as it was the closest thing to a home she’d had in years, and joined a Resistance cell shortly after the occupation began. 

After the war, she had joined the Foreign Legion so that she could return to the countries she had been working to help free. Being wounded in service to the French Foreign Legion guaranteed automatic citizenship to it’s soldiers, and she’d made sure to be injured in combat. The Temple had requested she operate out of France to keep an eye out for the missing miraculous, and it was the easiest way to secure Marinette’s status as a French citizen.

While she was technically serving to quash resistance to French interests, she was helping the locals of France’s imperialist holdings to gain their freedoms in secret. She’d worked with other miraculous wielders to ensure continued losses for European colonial assets for generations.

The nineteenth and early twentieth century had been busy times for many miraculous holders, and there were few if any of the jewels in the Guardian’s possession during those years. 

Their resources being stretched so thin was exactly the reason the Peacock and Butterfly had been so easily stolen in the first place. 

“I see,” Gabriel replied coolly. He looked back at the file for a moment, flipped a couple of pages and returned his gaze to her. “After your departure from the Legion, you appear to have been all over the map until the late eighties in the United States. Aside from a collection of degrees from several universities, we could only find your criminal record.” He raised an eyebrow at the mention of her record. “May I ask what you were doing in those years?”

She cleared her throat, “mostly I traveled.” Marinette shrugged, “Egypt, Iraq, Iran, India, most of southeast Asia, China, Russia. Then I went through Indonesia, to Australia, and through South and Central America, before stopping in the United States.” Marinette bit her lip nervously, and glanced for a moment at Nathalie before looking back at Gabriel. “I attended several universities throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Australia at that time.”

The sixties, seventies, and eighties had been a series of political movements and open conflicts with occupying nations to work toward independence. It was hard for her to keep track of exactly what she had done when. But traveling under the guise of a student had been the easiest way to fly under the radar. She returned to France from time to time, but only long enough to recuperate before her next self-appointed purpose. 

Sabine’s birth had been the longest time she had spent at home, and Marinette had let herself stay with her family for a time. But she could never let herself be tied down too long before throwing herself into her next conflict. She came and went from her distant granddaughter’s life for several years until Tom came into it. 

Finally, in the late eighties, she had settled into Southern California. After doing so much for most of the century, she suddenly found herself listless, drowning in bad memories, and mourning the loss of many friends and compatriots. Visions of war and fighting plagued her day and night, and she itched to do anything to keep herself busy. But trying to continue as she had only led to lapses in judgement, and panicked overestimations. 

The twentieth century had been especially hard on her. But, eventually, she had found solace in the bottom of a bottle, and the high of whatever she could get her hands on. Granted, she had been through stints of drinking to cope before, but this was different. It was the first time she could say she really _needed_ a hit, or a drink just to get out of bed. It was mostly an intoxicated blur in her memory now, but she knew she had been in and out of jail for a while. 

Public drunkenness, possession charges, theft, assaults, robbery, arson, vandalism. 

They were far from her finest years. 

Getting clean was the hardest thing she had ever done, and Tikki had helped her through the worst of it. She'd slipped in her sobriety here and there, having a drink, 'because she deserved it,' inevitably led to a binge as she told herself after each drink just one more. She rarely handled drug crimes anymore, instead opting to let the police handle them. She had accidentally slipped one too many times and indulged on whatever she had confiscated. Good heroin was always hard for her to turn down. 

But Marinette had been clean and sober with no relapses for nearly seven years now, and she was proud of herself every day for it. Tikki was there to help her through the days that were hardest. She didn’t know what she would do without her kwami. 

Thankfully, Shadow Cat had never known her beyond the mask. She could only imagine what her partner would have thought of her if he had known the mess she was. He’d resented her for a long time for leaving him alone to watch over France, but it hadn’t meant much at the time. The two of them had only grown close toward the end of his last decade under the mask. But then, it had been several centuries since she had known any of her partners in their civilian lives. 

It was easier to lose them without being too close.

Gabriel seemed to nod in approval, and his voice snapped her back to attention. “You are well versed in the world then. And do you have any language proficiencies beyond French and, I’m assuming, English?”

Forcing down a small snort of laughter, she smiled, and gave a small nod. “Several.” Marinette exhaled before listing, “French, English, Spanish, Italian, a few Chinese dialects, Russian, Italian, a bit of Farsi, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, a little Korean, some Portuguese, as well as a few regional variations of sign language.” In truth the list was much longer, but she didn’t want to sound too unbelievable. The ones she had said were just the ones she could remember the best. There were countless languages she had long since forgotten from disuse or their dying out. 

Mouth dropping open, Gabriel raised his brows in surprise. “That… that will be invaluable in communications with our branches around the world.” He recovered a moment later and cleared his throat. “Let’s see…”

It was close to two hours she spent talking with Gabriel regarding her past and qualifications in taking over his position. By the end, she had seen him smile close to half a dozen times, and even looked caught off guard one or two other times. In the end, he had seemed happy to agree to give her the position, on the condition that she made it through shadowing him to his satisfaction first. 

And as Adrien had predicted, she started Monday.

…

* * *

…

Coming down the main staircase, Marinette looked around the lobby trying to find Adrien. He had messaged her about waiting for her there to go to Nino and Alya’s, but she didn’t see anyone except for the receptionist. 

The man at the desk turned to look her way, and waved her over to his desk. When she was close enough, he asked, “are you Marinette?”

She nodded. “That’s me.”

He gave a small apologetic smile, “M. Agreste told me to tell you that your meeting went longer than he expected. He said that he would go ahead and that you should meet him there.” 

“Oh!” Marinette blinked in surprise. Part of her had been looking forward to spending the walk with him, but the rest of her had been on edge about it. After the last couple of times she had talked with him, she wasn’t sure her nerves could take so much time around him so soon. “Thank you,” she said as she turned for the doors. 

Stepping from the building, her nerves began to calm. Seeing Adrien with Alya and Nino would give her time to decompress. And hopefully, she would make less of a fool of herself around him with them there. Now she just had to hope that Alya would keep her word about laying off. 

Turning down the street, she actually felt confident. As intense as Gabriel was, she knew that learning from him would be invaluable. He had experience and connections in the industry she couldn’t even dream of. And that she was really going to be working directly beneath him? Her gut squirmed from a combination of nerves and anticipation. 

A small smile graced her lips as she weaved between pedestrians. She was surprised to find that she was actually excited. Maybe doing something for Marinette for once really would be a good thing? She had convinced herself for so long that she was not a good person, and didn’t deserve to do things for herself. 

She’d told herself that Ladybug was the good one. She deserved recognition, and to be known. 

But Marinette? 

She was responsible for the deaths of millions. She was sure that Ladybug was all that kept her in control, gave her direction, kept her from her baser instincts. 

For the first time though, the fear that gripped her heart lessened. Perhaps Tikki had been right? Maybe Marinette was deserving as well. She was the one driving Ladybug after all. The good deeds she’d done behind the mask were still hers. 

For the first time, she had confidence in Marinette being someone worthwhile. Monday was the beginning of a new chapter in her life. She could feel it. 

A scream from up the street snapped her from the high of personal revelation. A shoulder bumped her out of the way, hard, and she stumbled as a woman’s voice called, “my purse! Someone stop him!” 

Shaking her head, Marinette ran back half a block, her eye catching sight of the purse snatcher. Fast as he was, she knew she could catch him. She ducked into an alley and ran behind the nearby dumpster as people turned to look after the thief. 

She opened her purse and peered in at the large blue eyes that stared back. “Game time, Tikki! Transform me!” 

There was a flash of pink, and she felt the familiar, comfortable cocoon of Ladybug’s outfit. It had changed many times throughout her life, but the simple sleek tight fitted suit and domino mask was her favorite. It offered the flexibility and range of motion she needed without restricting her movement like clunky armor did. And despite how thin the fabric appeared, it was strong enough to stop an artillery shell. 

That didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt, break some ribs, or knock the wind out of her. 

But she could do it.

Pulling herself to the rooftop, she ran to the edge and glanced at the street below. Two blocks up she saw the purse snatcher turn left, and she took off after him. Dashing over rooftops was easy, and she jumped gaps without breaking a sweat. As good a shape as Marinette was in, Tikki made her stronger and faster than she could have believed. 

Ladybug held out her right hand and a bright red length of rope with black spots materialized there. She took the knotted end, extending the lasso and stopped as she got ahead of where the thief was slowing in his stride. She swung the rope over her head once, twice, and threw. 

The rope sailed through the air and fell over the thief’s head. She pulled tight as it came over his biceps, and the man started to struggle as she hauled him up to the rooftop. Several people on the street stopped and looked up to point in awe at Paris’ hero. 

She grabbed the man’s belt loops in one hand and the rope she’d snared him with in the other as he cleared the gutters. He was still struggling and yelled, “let go of me! I’m going to kick your a-” he quickly stopped talking as she turned him to face her. He gulped, his eyes going large. “Oh, shit.” 

“Hi,” she smiled. “As lovely as the bag you took is, I’m afraid it doesn’t go with your outfit.” 

“L-Ladybug! I’m sorry! I-I-” he stammered, a look of fear on his face. 

“I’m having a pretty good day,” she grinned, “so I’m only going to make you return the purse.” Her grin vanished, her face hardening in a blink. “But if I catch you again, I’m kicking your ass and turning you in. Got it?” 

He nodded emphatically, “y-y-yeah! Yeah of course! I should never ha-” He suddenly stopped and looked to her hip, where a repetitive beep sounded. “Uh… your yo-yo is… ringing?”

Transferring the rope to her right hand, she grabbed the yo-yo from her hip. It was about time Fu had found her another partner! Ladybug glanced at the man she’d lassoed and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t move.”

He gave her a thumbs up. 

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Ladybug flicked open the face of her yo-yo with her thumb. She opened her mouth to say hello, but stopped as she looked into the purple masked face of an older man. The mask covered all but his steel grey eyes and mouth like a balaclava. For a moment she couldn’t help but wonder how he breathed through his nose. She could clearly make out the openings of his nostrils, but it looked as though the material went up inside his nasal cavity. 

That couldn’t be comfortable. 

The man offered a polite, icy, smile. “Hello, Ladybug. I am Papillon, the holder of the Butterfly miraculous. I was hoping we could chat.” 

She gaped. Ladybug didn’t mean to look so caught off guard, but she couldn’t help it. This was the last thing she expected. Miraculous Users had always been able to call and track one another using their objects, and she had never turned her’s off, but neither had she seen the Butterfly or Peacock activate since they’d been stolen. 

And now this Papillon was just calling her out of the blue? To _chat?_ She glanced at her captive person and then back at her communicator. “Call me back in five minutes.” With that, she snapped her yo-yo shut and looked to the man at the end of her rope. “I’ll take the purse myself.” Without waiting for a response she took it from his grasp and grabbed his belt loops once again. 

The man began to protest as she dangled him over the roof’s edge, “shit, Ladybug don’t drop me! I’ll be good I swear!” He looked frantic.

She smirked, “I’m just lowering you to the street.” Ladybug began letting the rope slip through her fingers at an even pace, and the man was quickly sent back to earth. “Remember what I said!” She called after him as his feet touched the pavement and he bolted without a look back. He was probably counting his lucky stars at the moment. 

Flicking her yo-yo back open, she brought up her map and activated it’s search function for other active miraculous users. But in just a couple of seconds, the search came back negative, and she swore under her breath. He’d kept his tracker off. 

She knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but a girl could hope, right?

Ladybug took off for the block she had come from to return the purse. Returning it had been the easy part. Getting away from the mob of civilians who all wanted her ear and to thank her for the work she did was the hard part. But after a couple of moments, her yo-yo began to beep again, and she launched herself back up into the rooftops without another word. 

Once she was in a secluded space on the roof with little noise to distract her, she flicked her yo-yo open again. Papillon’s face dominated her communicator’s screen. A century and a half trying to track them down, and he was the one who sought her. She wanted to scream. 

“We can talk now?” His face barely moved and his deep imposing voice was devoid of emotion. If he was going for intimidating, he had it down. 

She nodded, curious to see exactly what it was he wanted. “I’ve been looking for your jewel for a long time, you know?”

He gave a curt nod. “I am aware. My father in-law warned me of that fact when the brooch was passed to me. But I did not know how desperately you and your associates sought to acquire it until Fukushima.” 

Ladybug just shrugged. “The Order of the Guardians is incredibly protective of the Miraculous.”

“Indeed,” he muttered through pursed lips. “But it is because of them that I have… ‘called’ you.” His expression never wavered as he let out a small sigh, “I am not a man who would often seek help from others. But the situation I am in is beyond my own abilities, and a life is at stake.” 

“This is about the Peacock?” The last time they had been spotted, the Peacock wielder had collapsed suddenly and hadn’t been seen since. Ladybug had been sure something happened to the person who wore it.

“It is,” he nodded. “The jewel is damaged, and transforming cost my wife a great deal each time she did. A few years ago, she passed out while wielding its power, and has never woken up.” There was a small strain in his voice, but other than that, the man showed no signs of emoting. “I will be blunt. My kwami has told me of the power of your miraculous when combined with that of the Black Cat. I would use this power to save my wife.” 

“Absolutely not.” The answer was out of her mouth before Ladybug realized she had spoken. But she meant it nonetheless. “There are other ways your wife could be saved.” 

Eyes narrowing in suspicion, his gaze felt as though it bored through her. “I will not take her to your Order of Guardians. It is because of them that she is in the state she is.” Papillon bared his teeth, “they would take our miraculous, and punish us for the crimes my ancestors committed. I will not subject her to such treatment.”

He was right of course, she couldn’t argue that. It was a rare occurrence, but the guardians could fix a broken miraculous if need be. “If you were to return the Butterfly and the Peacock, something could be arranged. You wouldn’t face punishment for your ancestor’s theft, I promise you. I would make sure of it.”

His right nostril twitched, “if I send you an akuma, you could easily send your miraculous back with it, along with the Black Cat. I would send them back the moment I was done.” His expression never faltered, but his tone grew grave. “I will not give up the only insurance I have until my wife is safely returned to health.”

There was no way she would agree to that, much less Master Fu. The man’s family had already stolen two miraculous, and he just wanted her to casually send two more his way? On the promise that he would revive his wife and return them? He must have thought she was an idiot if he expected her to agree to this. 

She shook her head. “That is never going to happen. If you know how to use your miraculous then you know the power they contain. The guardians will never agree to send you another miraculous on your demand, nevermind my own.” Ladybug scoffed. Who did this arrogant asshole think he was? 

For a long moment, a silence stretched between them as he stared at her without blinking. “Ladybug, I do not wish to fight you. But if you do not help me in this, I will be forced to make you my enemy. My wife’s well-being comes before your concern for your precious miraculous.” 

He was… threatening her? It took her a moment to process that fact. No one had threatened Ladybug in decades! “You have other options than this, Papillon. I believe I could help you myself, if you brought me to her.” Tikki’s magic had worked wonders before.

“Ha!” A humorless chuckle fell from his mouth like rolling gravel, “and have you bring your allies to take our miraculous and leave my wife to die?” He shook his head, “do you think me a fool?”

She blinked. Ladybug couldn’t help but feel taken aback. It made sense that this man would be paranoid, but to this extent? “I wouldn’t-” 

“If you do not deign to help me in the only way I can trust, then I will have to take your miraculous by force.” His tone was ice as he dropped his threat. 

“I-” Ladybug shook her head, “Papillon, that’s unnecessary! We can work something out if only you would-” A sudden boom sounded in her ears and she looked up to find a massive plume of smoke rising from several blocks away. Another sprouted from very nearby, and even from so far, she could hear the screeching of car tires, and the whine of twisting metal. 

Above the scene, a news chopper hovered.

Wide panicked eyes shot back to her communicator, “what did you do?!” 

“What is necessary,” he sneered. The screen went black. 

Slamming the screen closed, Ladybug shoved it into it’s holster at her waist and took off across the rooftops. “Fuck! Fuck! Shit!” She vaulted clear over entire streets toward the rising smoke as a third plume rose. “Crazy motherfucker,” she muttered under her breath. 

…

* * *

…

Grabbing the doorknob, Nino found Adrien on the other side of the door with a perplexed look on his face. 

“Did you see the robed guy hovering over the street?” Adrien stepped inside as Nino closed the door.

“He’s on the news,” he pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward the living room. “We only noticed after we heard the helicopter outside.”

They walked into the living room where Alya stood watching the television. “Hey, Sunshine. You see this?”

He nodded, “yeah as I was walking up.” His eyes glanced to the scrolling text across the bottom of the screen, and then to the main image. A tall, impossibly thin, bald man with pale skin hovered above the street, higher than the rooftops. He wore a long sweeping robe that was black with purple trim. His eyes were open, but his head hung low, his chin touching his chest, and his arms and legs hung limp. He almost looked like a powered down robot. “Has he done anything?”

“No,” Nino shook his head, “he’s just… floating.”

The three of them stood watching as the reporters fired off their commentary about the situation. In the background, they could just make out the windows of their apartment on the street below. 

Finally, Adrien asked, “is it performance art or something?”

Alya shrugged, “I don’t think so. Maybe he’s one of Ladybug’s friends or- oh he’s moving!”

On screen they watched as the man looked directly into the news camera for a moment before his gaze trailed down to the row of apartments beneath him. He extended a hand, and from it a ball of flame rocketed at the structure.

The three in the apartment fell to the floor as flames exploded through the windows, and tongues of fire licked at the curtains. The fire seemed to have a life of its own as it crept up the walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course Hawk Moth just had to come up and be his terrible, terrible self. At least he tried to be a little civil first? I mean he's still a selfish ego-maniacal bastard. But he made the attempt at least. 
> 
> How did you feel about the interview? I was going to make it longer originally, but I figured sitting through a whole-ass interview when we just did that with Adrien (kind of :P) a couple chapters ago would be on the dull side. 
> 
> Plus we wouldn't have our awkward dorks being awkward dorks lol
> 
> Oh yeah the rank of Commandant in the French army is equal to Major in the U.S. army. I did far too much research about the French military since 1939 for this chapter xD and decolonization of European holdings in Asia and Africa x.x like… I realized all the extra details would have been like reading a textbook lol so I summarized and vagued instead ^.^;
> 
> Tbh I wasn't too crazy about the whole conversation with Papillon either. It just felt… Idk… really wooden? I guess? Something about it just seemed off to me. 
> 
> But I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully I'm just being hypercritical. 
> 
> Next week! Ladybug fights our first akuma, and she's going to need an ally to do it, because PTSD is mean D: Thanks for reading! See you either down below or next week! <3 <3 <3


	6. Fire Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smoke sucks. Adrien fights fire with fireplace tools. Ladybug has flashbacks. Enter player two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Trigger Warning; There's a few graphic descriptions of burned people both alive and dead in this chapter.***
> 
> Hello, if you're new ^.^ Welcome back if you're not <3
> 
> Thank you for your continued interest and giving this story so much love! Every comment, kudo, and bookmark is super appreciated! For real. Heart eyes every time :P
> 
> Oh my gosh, this chapter ended up being difficult to write! I wanted to keep it to a single chapter but still have it be a decent akuma chapter, and I think I accomplished that ^.^ playing with Ladybug's powers was definitely a lot of fun and I don't think I too overpowered her. But for as old as she is, she's gotta be a little bit OP right? ^.~
> 
> Oh my god, and post-editing this chapter now sits at a little over 8k exactly xD 
> 
> Ugh this week was difficult x.x my wife was still really sick, and my son was finally getting better but needed to be held constantly. And she couldn't take him because she was a dumpster fire and I have just been mentally and emotionally exhausted for the last like 2 weeks -_-
> 
> I didn't have energy to write at all, much less edit this chapter lol I finally edited it like 4 hours ago ^.^; so hopefully it's okay! It didn't need too much love, luckily!
> 
> But editing helped to get me back in the mood to write, and everyone at home is finally alive again, so I'm going to start working on 7 tonight ^.^ hopefully I'll get 7 and 8 done this week! Fingers crossed!
> 
> In the meantime, here's our ancient super disaster-bi girl ;P

Fire raged around them as Adrien, Alya, and Nino struggled to stay beneath the smoke on all fours. The fire had spread faster than they would have thought possible, igniting the streetside wall entirely in just a few seconds. Nino managed to get his bearings first and led them to the front door. Each hacked violently, desperate for clean air, but every lungful just brought more smoke. 

The last out the door, Adrien stood and quickly slammed it shut. He leaned against the wall and coughed until he could feel his shredded lungs working somewhat normally. Next to him, Alya and Nino did the same. 

In the hallway, a loud fire bell rang incessantly, it's clattering rocking the inside of Adrien's skull as if it were filled with marbles.

Alya's voice broke through the muted sound of flames crackling and the ear splitting alarm. "Thank god your father kept Marinette late." 

He nodded in silent agreement. Looking down the hallway, he registered a thin grey haze of smoke coating the hall. Several apartments were open, the residents having already fled. Raising his voice hurt, but it was the only way to be heard. "We need to get out of here," he yelled. "Before we pass out!"

Nino helped Alya to her feet and the two leaned on one another as they began stumbling along with Adrien not far behind. Every apartment he came to with a closed door, he tested the knob before opening it to check that it was empty. He couldn’t bring himself to walk by without knowing that the people inside were safe. 

Most had already evacuated, and several were empty or locked, the occupants likely at work. But some, the heat was too intense to bare before he yanked his hand back. A few on the opposite side of the hallway from the street looked startled as their doors were opened by a stranger. But they quickly ran out upon recognizing the fire alarm. 

The more he breathed, the more trashed his lungs felt, and the more he began to see stars. Inside one of the doorways,he found a fire poker the length of his leg leaning in the corner. He grabbed it and leaned on it like a cane as he made his way to the stairs. He already felt like he was going to pass out. 

As he reached for the last knob before the stairwell, Nino yelled back from the second floor landing, “dude! You’re gonna die if you try to save ev-” he cut off suddenly as he started another round of hacking. 

Testing the knob anyway, Adrien winced as he felt his palm singed from the heat. He hissed as he watched the spot on his hand turn red and shiny. Turning quickly, he leaned heavily on the poker, his head swimming. He practically fell down the stairs after his friends, and counted himself lucky he didn’t stab himself with his makeshift cane. 

Most of the doors on the second level were clear, and the air was considerably less hazy. His lungs almost felt refreshed as he breathed. 

Almost. 

He caught up with Alya and Nino, who were walking side by side now, and the three found the staircase to the first floor. 

Thankfully it seemed entirely evacuated, almost every door hanging open, with only a few that were locked. The three hurried down to the last staircase that would take them to the street. 

By the time their feet touched pavement, Adrien was carrying his poker, his head feeling better from the lack of smoke in the lower levels. But where the ground floor of the building had seemed relatively untouched, the street outside was like something out of hell itself. Fire raged everywhere. Up and down the street, most of the buildings seemed to be burning. Cars were burned and crashed into one another, their tires melting into thick oily pools as black smoke rose from the rubber. Smoke choked the sky, making it all appear a thick grey haze, and the scent was noxious to his senses. On the ground were bodies by the dozens, some passed out from the smoke, others partially burned, and some unrecognizable as anything but charred husks. 

In the back of his mind, Adrien found himself making the comparison to the burned corpses in Skyrim. The game didn’t capture the way the charred outside cracked, revealing pink oozing flesh beneath. He realized that the Dragonborn could never have been properly horrified by the sight of what was in front of them. He wanted to laugh at the thought. If they had seen what he was seeing, they never would have walked blindly into dragonfire like they did. 

A sharp smack to the back of his head snapped him from the morbid fascination and he turned to find Alya looking at him. She was saying something, but the ringing in his ears made it impossible to know. 

She pointed to the sky and he followed her finger to see the man in his purple fringed robes hovering indifferently over the carnage he had created. His eyes were locked on the corpses just beyond where the three stood. 

Suddenly, the ringing stopped, and all at once the sounds of the street snapped back into place. He could hear the screaming, the crackling of flame, and the urgent voices of his friends. 

Alya was yelling, “Nino, grab his other arm! We need to get him out of here!” 

Seeming to be in a similar daze, Nino looked back with a sharp shake of his head. "Right."

Waving off his friends, Adrien pointed up the street. "Sorry. Let's go!" 

As they started walking, all three turned to look as a gout of purple flame flew from the man's extended hand. It traveled in a straight stream to one of the burned bodies on the ground and engulfed it. 

Seeming to snap, Alya screamed up at the madman. "Stop it, dammit! Haven't they suffered enough?!"

The stream cut off as his gaze shifted to Alya, and all three of them froze. The man only smiled and pointed at them. All three cringed away from the fiery death they expected… 

But it never came.

Instead, there was a sound of uneven, lumbering steps, and roaring fire from behind. 

They turned in time to see the corpse shambling toward them, wreathed in purple flame. It opened its mouth and shrieked at them with a sound akin to agony. 

Above them, the man released another stream of purple flame toward his other blackened victims. 

"Go!" Adrien screamed, pushing them up the street. He didn't expect to survive, hoping only that he could buy his friends enough time to escape. He turned, hefted the fire poker as if it were a fencing saber, and charged at the coming foe. 

…

* * *

...

Flying across rooftops, Ladybug skidded to a halt at the edge of the street she had seen smoke first rise from. Flames were everywhere, and several more plumes had risen in the couple of minutes it had taken her to arrive. Buildings, cars, people, the pavement itself, all burned. Smoke clouded her vision and choked her lungs. 

They felt ragged already. Her mad dash to the scene had made her take deep lungfuls of acrid smokey air the closer she got. Ladybug brought her yo-yo to her face. The slot for the device's rebreather popped against her lips, and she breathed deeply as it cleaned the air for her. She brought its string around her head and secured it to the yo-yo's opposite side.

Surveying the street, she realized that it was the one Alya and Nino lived on. Looking up the street confirmed what she feared, and she saw their apartment building ablaze, along with those adjacent. Without thinking, she lunged toward it, desperate to save her friends. 

Several people were filtering out of the buildings choking on smoke as they carried their neighbors and co-workers to safety. Above the chaos, a news chopper hovered, surely filming every second. 

In the distance, she could hear sirens wailing as fire trucks approached the scene. 

The closer she got, the more her gut twisted. Ladybug could see a man with what looked like a sword fending off a purple flaming creature as others fled. Behind his opponent, she could see six more coming for him. 

His face was covered in soot and his clothes and hair were singed as he deflected his attacker’s arm and drove the point of his blade into its chest. He looked surprised that his riposte actually worked as the flaming thing fell and extinguished at his feet. 

Ladybug got close enough that she realized his 'sword' was a fire poker. He looked her way as the other creatures charged him, and for a moment, relief registered on his face as she met his eye.

Her heart seized in her chest as she realized it was Adrien.

She needed to get him out of here! Everything else fell to the back of her mind, nothing else feeling quite so important as protecting him. If she had more time, she’d have forced herself to rationalize, but she couldn’t as everything in her screamed to get him as far away as possible.

Her feet stuttered beneath her as she tried to charge toward him, but, in the same moment a man quickly descended in front of her, blocking her path. She came to a sudden halt as she got a good look at him. He was tall, pale, bald, dressed in a flowing black robe with purple trim, and hovering in front of her. 

Behind him, she could see Adrien overwhelmed as he turned back to fight off the six creatures as they charged him. 

Without thinking, she tried to dodge around the man in front of her, but he easily glided into her path, staring at her with impassive eyes. 

She wanted to scream. Ladybug needed to get to Adrien. She needed to save him. Everything in her told her to get him as far from this hellscape as possible! But the soulless anger in the eyes of the man in front of her kept her in place. She had seen that look before. 

Before the Butterfly miraculous had been stolen, it had been misused in the past. Of any miraculous, it and the Peacock were especially vulnerable to being used for nefarious purposes. The look in his eyes was the same look she had seen in every evil akuma that had come before him. There was hatred and boundless anger. Enough to see the world burn, and still not have it sated.

Clenching her fist, Ladybug stepped forward, her fist cocking back as she planted her right foot and stepped with her left. A pair of brass knuckles settled into place over her fist as she swung into open air. She caught herself from falling off balance as the akuma floated back away from her and grinned. 

Her eyes shot to Adrien as he fended off several of the flaming creatures, and she felt her breath quicken as a burning hand gripped his wrist. He cried out, but she couldn’t hear it over the sounds of the street. She had to get him away before he got hurt more! A flicker caught her attention, and she turned her eyes back to her opponent as a gout of flame came toward her. 

Launching herself to the side, Ladybug planted her right hand and threw her legs over herself in an uneven cartwheel. She pushed off of the ground with her left hand and landed with bent knees. She flicked her wrist, dispelling the brass knuckles as she charged forward. In her left hand, a weighted net materialized and she caught the akuma with her other hand as she sailed it over the hiss head. Skidding to a halt, she yanked down to bring him to the pavement. 

Feet falling to the ground, his knees began buckling under him and he locked eyes with her again. Anger roiled beneath his seemingly calm exterior and she knew he would see her dead if given the chance.

Ladybug lost her grip as she was suddenly caught from the side and she felt the heat of flame against her cheek as she was brought to the ground. The net slipped from her grasp as she fell. From the corner of her eye, she could just make out the head of a charred corpse wreathed in purple flame, and she did her best to keep her head back and away from the fire. 

Her cheek was seared from jaw to temple and she felt like she was being cooked as the inside of her suit grew warmer by the second. Ladybug gritted her teeth and threw her head backward, headbutting the flaming creature. Her skin sizzled as the back of her head cooked in the intense heat, and she could feel blisters rising and popping immediately. It seemed stunned for a second, and she freed her arm from its tight embrace. Cocking her arm back, she clenched her fist as a dagger formed in her grasp, and she jabbed for the creature’s heart as she’d seen Adrien do. 

It crumpled against her in an instant, it’s fire dying, and she pushed it off of her body as she got to her feet. Around her, a ring of the flaming monsters stood, blocking her path. She didn’t see where the akuma had gone, and cursed herself for letting it get away. Ladybug bared her teeth in frustration flicking both of her wrists. In her left hand, a large tower shield formed as a javelin appeared in the right. She wasted no time, and threw the projectile toward the closest target. 

The creature fell in a heap, and she repeated the motion, the javelin appearing once again in her open palm. She heaved it again, and the second creature fell. Those surrounding her charged then. Letting out a fierce growl, she braced the tower shield in front of her, and ran at them. 

Bodies fell as she barreled forward, and she dropped her guard as the shield vanished from her hands. She kept going, hoping to put some distance between herself and the monsters, running toward Adrien as hard and fast as she could. 

She’d lost sight of the akuma, and even then, she couldn’t find exactly where he had gone, the sky was so choked with smoke.

Ahead of her, Adrien was finishing off another of the flaming things, but his swings were sluggish, and she could see that he was exhausted. His skin was burned and blackened in several places, and holes had been worn in his clothes in more spots than she could count. As he downed his next enemy, his head turned her direction and she saw the hopeless exhaustion in his eyes. 

His guard fell as he looked at her. It was a look she had seen a thousand times in the eyes of her comrades in arms. Adrien had accepted that he was going to die. 

She was maybe a dozen feet from him when four of the flaming monsters engulfed him, knocking him to the ground. There was a loud scream as he went down, and Ladybug realized that it was herself. She launched her body toward him as fast as she could. 

Flicking her right wrist out, a fire extinguisher materialized in her hand and she wasted no time in dousing the creatures that attacked him. The things stopped moving as the flames died and she tossed the extinguisher aside as she dove to dig Adrien out from beneath them. The extinguisher vanished before it hit the ground.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that she was pulling charred corpses off of him. The charred corpses of people she was supposed to protect. But that wasn't important right now.

As she moved the last body, she saw him, his clothes in brittle tatters, skin blackened and cracking in dozens of places. Half of his face was unrecognizable. 

Her hands covered her mouth, stifling an anguished gasp, thinking him dead. 

But a faint rise in his chest caused her to sigh with relief as the tension fell from her shoulders. A small whimper escaped her and her voice was muffled by her yo-yo as she whispered, "oh, Adrien." 

Panic started to rise in her chest, and Ladybug could feel her breaths come in uneven gasps. The scent of blood, melted metal, burning rubber, and acrid smoke mingled in her sinuses, and she could taste it like a thick paste on her tongue. Her stomach churned and she thought she might be sick.. 

She’d smelled it a thousand times, and it never got easier. She could hear the crackle of flame, the screams of the dying and injured, and a quiver rose in her limbs that she couldn’t seem to quell. Her heart seemed to be stumbling through a hundred yard dash, and a cold sweat broke out across her skin, sending a prickle of goosebumps across her body. 

Getting her arms under him, she heaved him onto her shoulder as she stood, her legs feeling like jelly beneath her.

Everywhere she looked, there was fire and death. 

Ladybug hated fire, feared it. She’d been set ablaze more times than she could count, and every time, she had prayed for death. In ancient battles, fire had been a weapon of shock and awe. And it worked. If not for Tikki’s healing, she’d have laid down and died in the face of feeling her skin curl and split as fire danced across her body. She’d felt it sink into the soft tissue beneath her flesh, screamed as her bones dried and cracked from the intensity of the heat. 

Since the advent of gunpowder, her fear of fire had only gotten worse. Gunpowder had given way to bombs and projectiles the likes of which ancient conquerors never could have imagined. If not for the adrenaline that had pumped through her during firefights in the last century, she’d have cowered under cover and sobbed. 

After so long, she would have thought the blood and smoking debris of a fight would no longer affect her, but it was the opposite. She was more aware of them than ever before. 

Counting to ten, she managed to get her breathing under control, and slowed her rapid, shallow breaths as her heart stopped pounding on her ribcage like a bass drum. 

Glancing behind her, Ladybug locked eyes with the akuma, and he grinned back at her. His hand was raised, and a large ball of flame stood over his open palm. He threw the ball toward her, and it flew with devastating accuracy. 

Thinking fast, she summoned a dodgeball into her right hand, and chucked it as hard as she could at the oncoming fireball. Flame exploded in a massive sheet across the street as they collided, and Ladybug took off running. Her eyes were locked on the turn only half a block up the street. She spared a glance back over her shoulder to see that the explosion was dissipating, and the smoke started to clear, she lost sight of it, turning the corner. 

Up the street, she saw Nino on top of a car, trying to keep out of the reach of three of the flaming creatures as they climbed for him. There were others all around the street that were running or trying to keep the monstrous things from entering their homes, but Ladybug only had eyes for her friend. 

A long time ago, she had accepted that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t save everyone. But if she could keep the people who meant something to her safe, then that was what mattered. And it was what she would do first. There was a time where Ladybug might have felt bad about it, but not anymore. 

The javelin appeared in her hand again, and she heaved it as she ran to save Nino. As one of the creatures climbed up the car behind him, the projectile found its mark in the targets chest, and it went toppling from the vehicle as it’s fire sputtered out. Nino’s head whipped around behind him as the thing went down. 

As she closed on the creature at the front of the car, her hand closed around the handle of a billy club. Ladybug swung for its knees and it crumpled to the ground. Before it could recover, the club elongated, it’s rounded end coming to a point, and she drove the longsword into its chest, and it extinguished. 

“L-Ladybug?!” Nino looked panicked, his eyes blown wide with fear. “Oh, god! Adrien!”

She detached her yo-yo from her face and waved for him to follow her, heading for the nearest apartment building. She called over her shoulder, “follow me, Nino!”

Forcing the door open with her shoulder, she looked back to see Nino running as fast as he could across the street. Ladybug looked up and down the avenue, but couldn’t see her bestfriend anywhere. 

As Nino got in the door, she slammed it shut behind him and locked the deadbolt. Ladybug turned on him, “where’s Alya?!” He flinched in front of her, and she grimaced. She hadn’t meant to yell, but she needed to know her friend was safe. 

“I-I-” he shook his head, tears coming to his eyes. “That guy came out of nowhere and he-” his voice broke, and a pained sound escaped his lungs. “ _He fucking burned her!_ ” 

“Nino!” Ladybug grabbed his shoulder, doing her best to ignore the pain swelling in her chest. “Don’t fall apart on me! I can fix this! If I can capture his akuma, I can use my miracle cure to undo all the damage he did.” 

The miracle cure could be used to effortlessly restore all of the damage that Miraculous wielders had caused. “She will be okay.” Hearing the words out loud made her feel better, and reminded her that she could still get Alya back. 

She _had_ to get Alya back. 

“Are you sure?” His voice sounded weak, and there was a faraway look in his eyes that told her he was not okay. 

Ladybug nodded, “absolutely.” She looked up the stairwell to the first apartment door there. “Come on.” Taking the stairs two at a time, she flew up to the door and knocked loudly. Waiting several seconds and getting no reply, she twisted the knob hard, breaking the lock and latch in one go. 

Behind her, Nino sounded nervous, “what are you doing?” 

Strolling into the apartment, she peeked her head in the first doorway and found a kitchen. She shook her head and spoke over her shoulder. “Looking for a bathroom. We’re going to put Adrien in the tub, and you’re going to stay with him until I get back.”

Footsteps behind her told her that Nino was following. “What do you mean until you get back?”

Stopping, Ladybug looked at her friend standing several feet down the hall. There was a haunted look in his eyes that worried her. She spoke softly, “I need help, Nino. I need _you_. I don’t trust anyone else to do this.” She tried to meet his gaze, but there was a confused look on his face.

“I’ll do what I can but…” His eyes flicked downward as if searching the carpet for answers. He looked back up at her. “How do you know my name?”

She felt her jaw open slightly as realization hit her. She had been so panicked, she’d forgotten not to use his name. 

Fuck. 

A sudden beep from Ladybug’s earrings caught their attention, and she repressed a goan. She’d pushed herself too hard, too fast with how many objects she had summoned. Using the shield and javelin together was what had ultimately done it though. If she was careful and did one object at a time, she could use her power indefinitely. She’d practiced enough for so long that it was nothing to use item after item, regardless of size. 

But two at a time was harder, and took a lot out of Tikki. She had used up to four at one time, but her transformation had dropped within seconds when she did. With two, she had around fifteen minutes before she had to drop and give her kwami a quick snack. The one time she had tried to summon a revolver with a full cylinder, her transformation had fallen apart immediately. Each round of ammunition had been an individual item, and the seven together had proved too taxing for Tikki.

The explanation her kwami had given was that, even an object with dozens of moving and interconnected pieces still functioned as a single whole, and was therefore easy to create. But an item with a seperate projectile that functioned as its own object with a purpose detached from the firing mechanism split her power in half, and weakened her considerably more. A loaded harpoon gun was far more taxing than a javelin in other words.

Nino gestured to her beeping earrings. “What’s that mean?”

Ladybug suppressed a grimace. Someone had a lot of questions today. 

Turning, she pushed open a door and found the bathroom. “That I don’t have much time.” She gently lowered Adrien into the tub as Nino walked in.

Ladybug pointed to the tub. “Fill it with water, and make sure his burns are submerged. I’ll be back.” She pointed at the bathroom floor, “don’t leave this apartment.”

“O-okay.” He looked scared. She couldn’t blame him. 

Turning out the door, she found the nearest window and opened it. Positioning herself on the ledge, she threw her yo-yo and it attached to a chimney across the street. 

God, she loved magic. 

With a quick tug, the yo-yo retracted and yanked her along up to the rooftop. Her fingers closed around the edge as she let go of the string, and she wasted no time in pulling herself up. Ladybug held out a hand, and the yo-yo flew securely into her palm, the string already coiled. She jammed it into it’s holster at her waist, and took off running. 

Fu’s house wasn’t far. It was just another arrondissement over from where she was now. 

Feet pounding across the tiles, the exertion felt good. Her lungs slowed to an even rhythm with her stride, and her head began to clear of the panic that had fogged her thoughts. Fighting alone was getting too hard, and having to face another Miraculous user like this was more than she could bare. 

She needed a new Black Cat if she was going to take back the Peacock and Butterfly from this psychopath, Papillon. 

Why had he done this? There was no need! He was going to make Paris a battleground between them to get what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to take anything less for an answer. 

Ladybug knew that people would do anything to keep a loved one safe, and that much more to save the life of a soulmate. But to endanger the lives of thousands, just to save one? It was insane.

She growled as she realized, a part of her understood. She had gone so long without having a mate that, if she did, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for them. No one would stand in her way if it meant saving their life. 

But knowing there were other options? 

She shook her head. Even if it meant giving up her miraculous, she would do what was necessary to save them. Ladybug would never do… this. She would hope that her theoretical soulmate would never forgive her, or _want_ her if she did something like this. 

If there was one thing she had learned in her life, it was that one life wasn’t worth the deaths of so many. 

Landing on the roof of Fu’s apartment, her earrings let loose another piercing beep. “I know, Tikki, I know,” she grumbled. She didn’t have time now. When she gave Nino his miraculous, then she would feed her kwami. There was no time to spare if she wanted to prevent as much damage as possible. She could save people’s lives, and restore them to health as they’d been before the attack. But there was nothing she could for the memory of the trauma they’d endured.

Jumping from the roof, down to the alley, Ladybug looked left and right before approaching the back door of the massage parlor. She knocked tentatively. Almost as soon as she finished the door was opened and Marianne was pulling her inside. 

“We had a feeling we would be seeing you soon.” The elderly woman looked her up and down, and she gently touched her fingertips to Ladybug’s cheek. “Sweetie, you’re injured.” She sounded like a worried grandmother. 

“How did you know I would be coming?” Ladybug wondered. 

Marianne pointed to the television sitting in the corner of the back room. The screen showed the street she had just left. Purple flaming creatures roamed and started branching out down side streets, and the akuma himself floated above the chaos, watching as his minions sought more victims. 

She felt guilty for leaving, but with how badly this fight was affecting her, she wasn’t going to be able to succeed without help. 

Waving her on to the main room, Marianne opened the door. “Come dear. Wang has what you need on the table.”

Turning the corner, Ladybug’s eyes fell on the Miracle Box, it’s many drawers open, and waiting for her to choose. Wang sat on it’s opposite side, his knowing eyes peering over the top at her. Wayzz, the small turtle kwami, hovered just next to him with his legs crossed in the air. “Choose quickly, Ladybug. Paris’ citizens need you.”

Resisting the urge to give a snarky reply, she gazed into the box. 

Should she fail, she couldn’t risk taking the Black Cat and leaving both of their miraculous free to be taken. She wouldn’t give Papillon what he wanted so easily. 

But with how badly the flames affected her, she needed to be protected should her nerve fail her. For that, she needed the turtle. 

Looking to Fu, she pointed to his wrist. “Please, I need Wayzz.” 

He hummed deep in his chest and nodded. His kwami and he shared a look for a moment before the little turtle said, “I will see you soon, Master.” He disappeared into the jewel as Fu removed it and placed it in the small box in his hand. 

As he began to close the drawers, Ladybug put a hand on top of the lid to stop him. “Wait!” She nibbled on her bottom lip as she looked into the box, a plan forming in her mind. “I need a couple more.”

“More?” Fu fixed her with a skeptical eye. “How many allies do you believe you need, Ladybug?”

“Just one,” she murmured. Her hands gathered the Mouse, the Horse, and the Rooster. 

As she put on the jewels, Fu stammered in front of her. “L-Ladybug, using multiple miraculous is dangerous, even for one as accomplished as yourself! If you-”

“I know!” She stared him down, the old man quieting as she glared at him. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done this before. “I am aware it’s dangerous, but people are dying, and it’s the best I’ve got.” 

Fu huffed softly, “be careful.” 

“Don’t worry,” she gave a two-finger salute, “I’ve done this a few times.” With a quick nod to him, she turned and ran for the back door. She reached and squeezed Marianne’s shoulder in thanks as she ran by and out the door. 

Her earrings let loose another wail as she reached the alley. She ignored it as she slipped on the glasses, the thumb ring, and the necklace. The kwami’s appeared around her, each bowing in greeting. 

“Hi Kaalki, Orikko, Mullo.” Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and threw it to hook a rooftop, “keep up!” 

The kwamis greetings were lost to the wind as she yanked herself upward, and took off sprinting back to where she had left Nino. 

Ahead of her the plumes of smoke had grown in number, and the damage looked like it had expanded beyond the initial street. Flames were clear as they licked at the rooftops of the buildings, and intermittent streams of water showed as firefighters showered them over the neighborhoods in the most danger. Two more news helicopters had joined the first, each covering separate neighborhoods as the fires spread.

The trip back to Nino was quick, and she entered through the roof access door. The purple flame creatures were swarming over the street now, making the window impossible to access without being noticed. Thankfully none of them seemed to look up.

Jumping each flight of stairs, she made it down to the first floor, and found the apartment they had accessed earlier, the kwamis trailing behind her. As she tore inside, her earrings let loose another warning that she would detransform, and she ground her teeth, willing Tikki to hold on for a couple of minutes more. 

Inside, she found Nino turning off the water in the tub as Adrien lay unconscious and partially submerged. Nino turned suddenly, a look of surprise on his face. 

He blinked several times, his eyes shooting to each of the kwami following her. “That was fast.” A little color returned to his face, his eyes looking less fearful and more tired as the adrenaline subsided. “What can I do to help?”

Holding out the miraculous box containing the bracelet, Ladybug smiled as she opened it. It had been a while since she had recruited anyone for help. She was glad that it was Nino who was going to be with her now. “Nino Lahiffe, this is the Miraculous of the turtle, which grants the power of protection. With it, you will become my ally.” 

Nino looked from her to the open box, surprise registering on his face. His hand still dripped as she slid it into his waiting palm. A few drops pooled in her palm as the transfer was made. 

“Once our task is completed, you will return the Miraculous to me.” A green light flared from the box as he gazed at it in wonder. “Can I count on you, Nino?”

As Wayzz came into being, Nino scoffed in disbelief. “ _Hell_ yeah, dude,” he whispered. 

Suddenly, Ladybug’s earrings let out another shrill beep, and a flare of pink caught their eyes. She let out an undignified squeal as she reached for the doorknob, intending to slam it shut in his face. The water on her gloved hand made the knob slip from her grasp and she fumbled with it as her transformation dropped, and the cold metal rested against the flesh of her palm. 

Gaping across from her, Nino shook his head, blinking in shock as he stared at her. “‘Nette!?” 

“Fuck!” Marinette yelled. She’d gotten so caught up watching his reaction, she’d forgotten she needed to detransform. The part of her that enjoyed the ceremony of bestowing a miraculous overrode her sense of urgency. 

“You’re, Ladybug?” Nino gasped. 

As Tikki collapsed into her waiting hands, Marinette glanced back at Nino, frustration building in her chest. How could she be so careless? 

A small whine came from her kwami, “I’m sorry, Marinette. I held on as long as I could.” Tikki sounded exhausted. 

Her free hand fumbled with her purse, “shh, no Tikki, you did amazing! It was my fault.” She produced a macaron and held it out to her kwami. 

“Nette?” Nino asked tentatively.

She glanced up at Nino as he was looking between her and the kwamis. “Yeah, Nino?” 

“I…” he shrugged, “I have so many questions.” 

Gently holding her kwami as she munched on the cookie, Marinette shook her head. “I know. But we’ll have to talk about this later, okay?” She nodded toward the outside, “right now, we have bigger things to deal with.” 

Above his head, Wayzz volunteered, “I can answer your questions, Master.” 

“Ah, just Nino is good, little dude.” He grinned up at the little turtle, “what’s your name?”

While Wayzz ran Nino through the basics of transforming and using his powers, Marinette spent a couple of minutes nursing Tikki as she regained her strength. 

Finally, with the macaron devoured her kwami floated in front of her with a grin, only looking a little worse for wear. “I’m ready when you are, Marinette!” Tikki announced. 

“Okay Nino,” she said, drawing his attention away from chatting with the other kwamis. “So, here’s the plan.” She took several seconds and explained who each of the kwamis were and what everyone’s role was going to be in the coming battle. 

As plans went, it was fairly straightforward with what they had to work with. But without too many complicated parts, it left less room for error. And she was not going to leave more of this to chance than she had to. 

With everything laid out, Marinette called, “Mullo! Transform me!” Nino watched with his mouth hanging open as the grey light settled and Marinette became Multimouse. She looked to him as the power settled over her, gesturing for him to go next. 

“Oh!” He looked to his kwami, “uh… Wayzz? Transform me, dude!” Green light sparked through the air and in Nino’s place stood a turtle themed superhero wearing the biggest grin. 

Multimouse smiled at her friend. She couldn’t help it. This felt right, having someone she knew knowing… all of this. It scared her for sure, but if it was going to be anyone, she was glad it was Nino. “So,” she asked, “what should I call you?”

Taking the shield from his back, Nino examined it and his own outfit, glancing between his chest and the bathroom mirror. “Uh... “ He scratched his forehead. “Carapace?”

Nodding she shot him a thumbs up. “Sounds great! Now,” she let out a breath, and tapped into Mullo’s power. Marinette had used the mouse miraculous a couple of times, but feeling part of herself shed into a smaller physical form while retaining her awareness of it was always unnerving. While they shared a common goal, and could communicate without speaking, each was capable of independent thought and action. It was probably due to miraculous magic, but it felt less unnerving than it should have.

The two of them looked to one another with a nod. 

Orikko came down to the level of the small Multimouse. 

The little hero called, “Kaalki, Mullo, unify!” For a brief moment, a white light shone, and her outfit had changed. The difference was subtle, adding spurs to her heels, her hair becoming long and white down the middle of her head like a mane. 

Without another word, Multisteed climbed on to Orikko and glanced expectantly at the larger version of herself. 

Nodding, the large Multimouse called, “Tikki, Mullo, unify!” Once the transformation settled, Multibug stood in her place. “Are you ready, Carapace?” 

Hefting his shield, he nodded. “Let’s get this guy.” 

Getting to the building’s roof, the kwami carrying Multisteed split off and went to wait until they were needed while Carapace and Multibug ran to where they had last seen the akuma. 

He wasn’t hard to find. 

Hovering just below the line of the rooftops, he stared down at the street with arms crossed as his fires spread. The akuma seemed to revel in the destruction he was creating. 

“Okay,” Multibug crouched behind the lip of the rooftop next to Carapace. “So, our main goal for the moment is to draw him in and identify the akumatized object. Once we have that, we’ll fall back on the defensive and you’ll use your power. Got it?”

Carapace nodded, and she could see the realization of what was about to happen settling on his mind. “How do we know what the object is?”

“Anything out of the ordinary. It’ll probably be black and he’ll more than likely have it hidden, so keep an eye out.” She glanced over the lip again, and saw the akuma moving further down the street. “Let’s go.” 

Multibug threw her yo-yo and latched a chimney across the street. She tugged and the yo-yo retracted, pulling her quickly across the gap. She grabbed the ledge to pull herself over the lip.

Thankfully, the akuma still had his back to them. 

Running across the rooftops, the heroes closed the distance between themselves and their opponent. Down below, fewer of the purple flame creatures were roaming, the majority having spread further into the city. 

Multibug held up a hand over the lip with three fingers extended. She dropped a finger with each breath, doing her best to keep herself calm. They could do this. She knew they could do this. She’d faced far worse, panic attacks or not. 

As her last finger dropped, a net materialized in her left hand and she launched herself from the rooftop toward the akuma. 

He turned at the last moment as her net closed around him, and fell to the ground with a look of surprise on his face. Multibug landed in a crouch, the net held tightly in her hands. Her eyes roamed the akuma rapidly, but didn’t see anything immediately. 

Recovering quickly from the fall, the akuma looked to her with hate filled eyes and raised a hand to her. Flame began to swirl in his palm and her breath started to quicken as it grew. 

From her right, Carapace rushed in and swung the edge of his shield down onto the akuma’s wrist. The arm fell to the pavement, the street beneath cracking with the force Carapace had put into the blow. 

Her partner stared down at the street in surprise, realizing just how much stronger he was when transformed. 

Multibug yelled, “focus Carapace!”

He shook his head and looked over the akuma quickly as it recovered. It’s eyes shot in his direction and it started to rise despite the pressure Multibug applied. Carapace swung hard with his free hand, punching the akuma in the jaw and sending him back down to the ground. 

It glared up at him, teeth bared, and the sound of feet slapping against the pavement came from all directions, feral screams rising as his creations charged. 

“Found it!” Carapace yelled as he turned, throwing his shield into the oncoming line of monsters, and knocked a dozen to the ground. He held his hand out, with an open palm and the shield returned to him, knocking the recovering creatures forward. 

He let out an excited whoop as the shield slid back onto his arm. “Captain America doesn't have shit on me!”

Grinning, Multibug let the net dissipate as she turned to face the coming creatures from her side. Grabbing her yo-yo, she whipped it in a wide arc at the charging foes, knocking their legs out from under them at the knees. “Phase two!” She called back to her partner. 

A few of the monsters on either side extinguished as the akuma rose into the air, his teeth bared in a snarl at the heroes below. 

Retreating until they were back to back, Carapace raised his shield above his head. “Shell-ter!” A large green glowing dome sprang up over the heroes as their enemies recovered, and charged. 

The flaming creatures threw themselves wildly against the shield, their screaming only partially muffled inside the magic barrier. 

Above, the akuma held out a hand and let loose a continuous stream of flame that engulfed the glowing dome. 

As it was awash in red and orange, the light inside became a deep brown. Carapace called over his shoulder, “there’s a necklace at the base of his neck! Black chain!” 

“On it!” Multibug nodded as she relayed the information to her smaller form.

A block down, hiding behind a rooftop lip, Multisteed patted Orikko’s back, and she held on as the kwami started forward. Approaching the akuma from behind, he never so much as turned as the tiny duo drew near. 

Her breath became shallow as the kwami hovered centimeters from the back of the akuma’s neck. Multisteed reached, gently drawing the back of his robe away from his neck, and she spotted the clasp of the black chain. She held her breath, afraid to alert him as her nimble fingers forced down the small latch and drew the chain up and away from the clasp. 

Releasing one side, Multisteed held tightly to the other and muttered, “up Orikko!” She grasped the chain with both hands as she concentrated on the air above them, creating a portal to the inside of the dome on the street below. 

The akuma cut off the gout of flame as the necklace slithered from his neck, and he turned in time to see the portal close as the duo vanished.

Below, Multibug grabbed the necklace from Multisteed with a grin. “Good work everyone!” She dropped the chain to the ground and brought her heel down on it, shattering the pavement beneath her foot to dust and breaking the chain. 

A gentle black butterfly with purple veins fluttered up from the ground and she swiped her finger down the yo-yo’s center, and swung it in her still-closed fist as the akuma rose, capturing it in one fluid motion. 

Around the shield, the purple creatures extinguished and fell to the ground, dead. The akuma steadily sank, falling in a heap in the street as the transformation released and an inky black substance boiled off to nothing, leaving a thin man in ordinary clothes lying in his place. 

Carapace dropped his shield, heaving a heavy breath. “That was intense.” He locked eyes with Multibug, who smiled proudly at her friend. 

She nodded, “it was. But you did well. Better than I could have hoped.” She pressed the release on her yo-yo and a perfect white butterfly fluttered out. “Now come on.” Multibug gestured toward the akumatized victim. “Let’s make sure he’s okay.”

“But…” Carapace hesitated. “Adrien… and Alya?” Her name fell from his lips in a quiet whisper as the memory of earlier seemed to settle on his mind. 

Nodding, Multibug squeezed his shoulder. “We just need to check on him. Then I’ll use my miracle cure to reset all of this. And then we’ll have her back.” She smiled, “I promise.” He nodded, a reassured look settling over his face. 

Coming to the man’s side, he shook his head, putting a hand to his temple. “Ugh… what happened?” He caught sight of Ladybug and Carapace before turning his eyes to his surroundings. He whispered to himself, “oh my god…”

Holding out her hand, Ladybug helped him up as he stared at the devastation, “did…” he gulped, looking afraid. “Did I do this?” He met her eye, fear growing in his own. “I was mourning my wife… and I remember hearing this voice. I was so devastated… and so angry...”

She shook her head, “this isn’t your fault. You were used by a man who has the power to turn people into his puppet.” 

He seemed to shrink on himself as he dropped to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Ladybug put her hand on his shoulder as she kneeled to his level. “It’s going to be okay.” She smiled, drawing his chin up to look at her. “Watch.” 

Standing, she grabbed her yo-yo as Carapace stepped back. Holding it in her open palm, she ran a finger down it’s center and called, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Swarms of ladybugs engulfed in pink light spilled out of the disk and spread to cover the devastation surrounding them. 

Above, a news chopper hovered, catching every second as the miracle cure healed the injured, revived the dead, and restored the damaged streets and buildings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you all thought it was gonna be Chat Noir, huh? ;P I told you he comes in at chapter 9! Would I lie?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Yes I definitely would. 
> 
> But not about this story! :D 
> 
> Not to YOU! <3 
> 
> How did you feel about the whole affair? I know Carapace didn't get too much of a chance to shine, but he'll (I'm not exactly sure when yet!) be back ^.^ along with some others :D idk if we'll get through the whole roster of miraculous, but there are definitely going to be a few. 
> 
> How about her plan to take down the akuma? I felt pretty proud of that one tbh. Kwamis being able to unify is such a nifty little perk to be able to use! Playing with Mullo and Kaalki was fun ^.^
> 
> Like I said up top, fingers crossed for 7 and 8 getting done this week ^.^ 
> 
> Omg and I'm going to get my hair cut this week because it's driving me C R A Z Y!!! And go figure, I'm getting an undercut xD how much self-projection can this baby fit in it, you're wondering? 
> 
> S O M U C H! 
> 
> Next Friday, we've got everybody checking in with one another, Papillon gets some airtime, Nino and Marinette talk, and Adrien is given something… Miraculous ;D
> 
> Anyway! Thanks for reading and I'll see some of y'all in them thar comments, and the rest of you lurkers next week :D Bye!! <333


	7. An Ember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wet hugs. Papillon gets some air time. History pairs well with hot chocolate. A black cat crosses Adrien's path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo hullo! ^.^ Happy Valentines day! 
> 
> Have I told you guys you rock? Cause you’re great <3 Kudos, Comments, All that junk. Love it. 
> 
> So, yeah. I’m definitely doing the thing where this gets longer the more we go on lol This chapter is clocking in at 8149 words :P I guess this thing is getting long! xD
> 
> But, because this chapter ended up being so long, I did not get started on 8 at all yet x.x I just want to get a little ahead and have a cushion again ;_; I’m nervous I might be late posting a chapter now without it. But I’ll do my best to get things out on time, I promise!
> 
> So, today this chapter is coming to you from the airport again. We’re going back to the Bay Area for my wife’s grandma’s funeral today. Thank goodness her mom is paying for our tickets because… holy shit planes are expensive o.o
> 
> Oh yeah! I got my hair cut, and like I said, it’s almost exactly the cut I had imagined for Marinette xD I didn’t realize that was what I wanted to do until I wrote it ^.^; But I love it, so thanks for the help realizing it, Mari <3
> 
> So, just a heads up. I’m thinking that after chapter 10 is up (in 3 weeks), I’m going to take a week off from posting. I’m going to get a couple of chapters written in that time, but mostly I’ll be working on my outline. I have things to 17 planned out so far, but the rest is a little vague beyond that. Going forward from chapter 10, I just want more of a solid idea of where things are headed so I can properly foreshadow and feel a little more confident in the narrative. So, the 6th of March, 10 will go up, and then you’ll be getting chapter 11 on the 20th.
> 
> That’s the plan at least. Things might change and I’ll suddenly get run over by the freight train of inspiration as I’m going to bed, and then I’ll stay up until like 4am figuring it out. But, I’m not going to count on it lol 
> 
> Anyway! Until then, enjoy chapter 7 ^.^

Watching the swarms of ladybugs scrub Paris clean and extinguish the fires that had begun to ravage surrounding neighborhoods drew a sigh of relief from Ladybug. Knowing that it was over now put her mind at ease. But even then, in her gut she knew that this was only the beginning. If Papillon was willing to do this as an opening gambit to get her miraculous, she knew he wouldn’t give up so easily. 

This was going to be a war, and Paris was to be the battleground. 

The thought of having to fight for the miraculous against an enemy who was going to stay hidden while starting a new job already had her exhausted. 

She and Fu were going to talk later. 

Turning to the victim, she held out her hand to him as he looked on in awe. He took her hand and stood on shaking legs. 

“Thank you, Ladybug.” He glanced at Carapace, “and… uh- you too.”

“Carapace,” he grinned, striking a heroic pose.

“Ah-” The man nodded, “Thank you, Carapace. I owe you both a great deal.” He looked down at his feet, “I’m sorry for my actions.”

Multibug smiled and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Like I said, it’s not your fault. Don’t be afraid to feel because of this.”

He nodded again, “thank you.” Looking over his shoulder, he sighed. “I um… I’m going to go home now, if that’s okay?”

Multibug nodded, “of course. And… I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Ladybug.” He smiled sadly, and turned to walk away down the street.

Multisteed nodded up at Multibug before she called, “Kaalki, Mullo, divide!” There was a bright flash, and the small horse kwami floated next to Orikko with a grin. 

Kaalki nudged Orikko, “not bad, Birdbrain.” 

The chicken kwami rolled their eyes, “thanks, Saltblock.”

With a small laugh, Multibug bent down with her hand held out for the small Multimouse who stepped into her palm. She held out her other hand, extending her pointer finger, and Multimouse high fived her before she melded back into Multibug. 

She stood, looking back to Carapace and smiled at her friend. He had done well. Better than she could have hoped, actually. Nino kept his cool, stuck to the plan, and didn’t let his new power go to his head. That was more than she could say of several people she had given miraculous to. 

She grasped his shoulder lightly, nodding toward an alleyway. Above, the news helicopters seemed distracted with the city as it was being healed. Now was the time to make a getaway unnoticed. 

Nodding, Carapace fell into step behind her as they tore across the street. They ran through several alleys, taking twists and turns until they were a couple of blocks away. No helicopters were in sight as they stopped and examined their surroundings. For the moment, no one passed on either side of the street. 

“Tikki, Mullo, divide!” There was a flash and Tikki appeared, her mouth split into a small grin. “Detransformation!” With a grey flash, Marinette stood with the three kwami floating around her shoulders. She nodded to Carapace, “time to let Wayzz rest.”

“Oh, uh…” he looked at his hands in confusion. “Detransformation?” Green light flashed and Nino was still looking down at his hands as an exhausted Wayzz drooped next to him. Looking up, he shoved his hands under the descending kwami with a concerned look on his face. “Will he be okay?” 

Digging through her purse, Marinette hummed in reply. She snatched the two remaining macaroons from beneath several receipts and broke them in half. She handed a half to each kwami, giving one to Wayzz last. “They’re powerful, but they need a little snack once everything is done to get their energy back.” 

Examining the cookie, the little turtle sighed. “No shrimp?” 

“Sorry Wayzz,” Marinette laughed. “Tikki’s likes cookies, so that’s usually what I’ve got on me.” 

Begrudgingly, he took the cookie and began munching. The other three happily took their share and began eating. 

“So…” Nino started, looking dazed. “We’re gonna talk about this, right?” He shook his head, “this is _huge!_ ” Eyeing Marinette he looked her up and down as if seeing her for the first time, “I mean this explains why you’re in such crazy good shape!”

Marinette shrugged, her eyes darting to the ground. “Surprise?” She hated this. She hadn’t meant for him to know, but now that he did… she didn’t know what to do. This was going to change things. It was a big thing to ask him to keep to himself, but… 

Looking back up at his grinning face, a bit of relief settled over her. Marinette had always been able to count on Nino in the past. He’d once come to get her in the middle of a snowstorm when her car had gotten stuck, and she hadn’t been able to get ahold of anyone else. She’d have left the car, but she couldn’t bring herself to come away from the heater. Nino wasn’t the kind of person to just leave people hanging. 

One of the drawbacks of the Ladybug was that she and Tikki were both incredibly lethargic in the winter months. Between the cold, the short days, and the lack of sunshine, they all but went into hibernation. Marinette hated the cold. 

The past nagged at her mind, telling her that this was a mistake, that him knowing who she was, was wrong. But she knew that was crazy. This was Nino! And she trusted him. 

“Look,” she bit her lip.

Cutting her off, Nino shrugged. “I get it, don’t worry. I can’t tell anyone. Superhero rules and all.” He glanced at Wayzz who had finished his snack and seemed to perk back up. “It was good working with you, Little Dude!” He extended his finger, and the kwami tapped his nubby arm against it. 

“And you as well, Ma- Nino.” He bowed as Nino removed the bracelet, and vanished in a small green flash. 

Handing the bracelet back to Marinette, he smiled as she stared blankly at the miraculous in her palm.

“Huh…” She was genuinely surprised. “You listened to me.” 

“Yeah?” He laughed. 

Grabbing the box from her pocket, she slipped the bracelet back inside. “I’m just not used to people always being so cooperative.” 

Nino raised an eyebrow at her, “your life is pretty crazy, isn’t it?”

Chuckling, Marinette nodded. “Yeah, it really is. But…” she let out a slow breath, feeling as though the moment wasn’t real. “If you want to talk more, come by the bakery tonight. We can talk then.”

“Okay!” He nodded enthusiastically. “I have a gig tonight, but I can stop by for a bit on my way!” 

“Sounds good,” she smiled, again feeling grateful it had been Nino at her side. “Until then though, do you want to go find Alya? And- oh no!” Marinette burst out laughing as she remembered where they had left Adien. 

“What?!” Nino turned, looking over each shoulder in alarm. 

Pointing over her shoulder, she got her laughter under control. “We left Adrien… in the tub!” She held her stomach as she got the last few chuckles out. 

Snickering, Nino shook his head. “Oops.” 

“Well,” Marinette laughed. “I should go and pull him out of there.” 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Come back to our place when you’ve got him, okay?” 

“Sounds like a plan!” She shot him a thumbs up. 

“See you in a few, ‘Nette.” He waved as he started walking toward the mouth of the alley. “And thank you for trusting me.”

“Of course, Nino.” She smiled fondly after him, watching him go. 

Waiting only a moment after Nino was out of the alley, Marinette spared the kwamis a quick look before she ripped the three miraculous off and shoved them into her purse. Kaalki, Orriko, and Mullo all vanished as she did, and Tikki followed the objects into her bag. 

Taking off running, Marinette headed straight for the building they had last left Adrien in. To her left and right, people were reuniting and celebrating their returns to health and life by embracing one another. Friends and strangers alike seemed to revel in the reality that they were okay. 

As much as their joy meant to her, she could only think of checking on Adrien. She didn’t know why, but her heart wouldn’t stop pounding until she knew he was okay. Thinking back, seeing him hurt, she had struggled to do anything but stop and heal him. She could have used Tikki’s magic, and a part of herself felt guilty for not stopping and tending to his wounds. But she knew that was crazy. There had been no time! She and Nino had needed to stop the akuma, and only then would everything be made okay. 

So then, why did Marinette feel as though she had failed him for doing it? 

Running up the apartment’s steps to the first floor, she found the door hanging open as they had left it, and tore inside. Hurrying down the hallway, she could hear the tub draining, and one cabinet after another closing, followed by a muttered, “there they are!” 

Turning the corner, she took in the sight of a whole, healed, Adrien with his clothes repaired to their state they had been in earlier in the day. 

Repaired and _soaked_! 

Marinette would have laughed if not for the weight that lifted from her body on seeing him. He turned to look at her with a towel in his hands as she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest, and squeezing him for all she was worth. The towel hit her feet as his arms wrapped around her shoulders a moment later. 

In unison, they sighed in relief, whispering, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” 

Heart fluttering in their moment of synchronicity, Marinette was aware of the quickly spreading damp patches across the front of her body, but she found it hard to care. “I saw you on the news, fighting those things with a _fire poker_!” She poked her finger into his back with every word as she asked, “what. Were. You. Thinking?”

She felt him shrug, his warm breath sliding down the back of her neck as he chuckled. He muttered, “I was _thinking_ , I would have done a hell of a lot better with a real sword.” 

“That’s not what I meant!” Marinette huffed as she pulled back to look him in the eye. She didn’t get far, his arms still folded loosely across her shoulders, their stomachs pressed lightly against one another. She’d been so worried. Try as she might to not care, the thought of him dying, even if only for a moment, hurt. 

A lot. 

He grinned, “I know.” Adrien shrugged. “I needed to protect Alya and Nino though.” His eyes locked onto hers and it was like an unbreakable connection had been formed. Marinette couldn’t look away if she wanted to. She could happily let herself get caught in the vibrant green of his eyes and get completely lost. That is, until he muttered, “I’m so glad my father kept you late.”

It was like a bucket of ice water turned on her head. His father. The job. Adrien Agreste was her boss. Her incredibly sexy, soaked, caring, **boss**! Suddenly aware of exactly how much of them was touching, Marinette took a large step back from him. The front of her felt cold as she left his embrace, and a part of her longed to go back to him. 

But she couldn’t. Knowing what it would do to her, what it would _mean_ to her. What that short touch _already_ meant! Even for just those moments, she felt a need to be held by him, and she wanted so badly to continue. 

She couldn’t. Marinette needed to control herself better around him! Why couldn’t she keep herself better controlled? 

He seemed to sober up as realization spread across his face, and his eyes darted to the right, breaking eye contact. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression, “sorry. That was… uh- sorry.” 

Shit. She’d made it weird again. 

But that was good, right? Weird would keep them apart and just distant enough to not make anything harder. 

Yeah. Weird was good. 

It was fine. 

This would be fine. 

So why didn’t it feel fine?

Both of them averted their eyes from one another, and Marinette spotted the towel at his feet. She leaned down and made a quick grab for it, only for her head to collide with something very solid. A knock sounded through her skull and she grimaced as she pulled back, holding the crown of her head. She couldn’t help but laugh as she noticed Adrien doing the same. 

His voice joined hers as they both laughed at themselves, and for just a second, Marinette was transported back to their dinner two nights ago. It was almost exactly like when she’d dropped her sketchbooks. 

“Are you okay?” Adrien chuckled as he rubbed his scalp. 

“Yeah,” she giggled. “Are you?” 

Like that, the tension between them eased in an instant. An easy smile graced his lips again as he nodded. “Never better.” 

She bit her lip, and she couldn’t help but glance at his. Marinette tried not to let her thoughts wander too close to what she wanted. “We should go find Alya and Nino.” 

The smile morphed into a gasp of surprise, “you found them in all of that?” 

“Yeah,” she met his eye and shrugged, doing her best not think about how his lips would feel against hers. “Me and Nino ran into each other out there.” 

Glancing out the window across the hall, Adrien squinted. “I don’t see smoke…” he glanced back at her. “How did it end? And-” he gestured down at himself, “how am I not charred bacon?” 

Marinette smiled in spite of herself and shrugged. “Ladybug and some turtle guy. They beat that guy and those monsters, and then she used some kind of ladybug swarm that just…” she mimed washing a dish with her hands, “just kind of scrubbed everything back to how it was before it all happened.” 

“Wow,” he shook his head, muttering, “god, she really is incredible.” Adrien absentmindedly rubbed at the wrist that had been grabbed during his fight with the akuma’s victims. But his eyes… he looked far away as a small smile crept on to his face. 

Seeing that look on his face, Marinette knew immediately what it meant. She had seen it enough in so many people over the centuries that it wasn’t hard to parse out it’s meaning. 

She could feel warmth creep across her cheeks as she glanced at her feet. Adrien was in love with Ladybug. 

And Ladybug was her. 

As if she didn’t have enough problems. 

Marinette pushed down the butterflies that floated through her chest at the thought, and met his eye again. She smiled coyly, nodding, “she sure is.” 

Her voice seemed to snap him from his daydream and he glanced away toward the bathtub. Almost immediately, he looked back to her, his brow knitted in confusion. “Whose apartment are we in?” 

“Uh-” her eyes widened as she remembered breaking in earlier. “I have no idea!” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “we should go!” 

Putting the towel back in the cupboard he had found it in, Adrien trailed after her as she quickly walked to the apartment’s front door. He was still soaking wet as she shut the door behind them, and they began descending the stairs. 

“Why was I in there, anyway?” He looked as though he was trying to pull up the memory of going there and failing. 

“Well,” they came out the front door of the building and started up the street toward Nino and Alya’s. “Nino told me that Ladybug got you guys out of danger, and then took you there. She put you in the tub because you were burned pretty badly, I guess.” She shrugged, “and then, you know Nino. He ran back out to see if he could help people.” 

“That sounds like Nino,” Adrien agreed. 

Getting back to the apartment wasn’t very difficult, most of the people on the street had already cleared out. Even the news helicopters had already left the area, the story largely wrapped up. Marinette did her best to ignore the fact that Adrien was right next to her, and she picked up the pace a bit. 

They entered the building and made for the elevator. Adrien hit the button to call it and they waited silently, both making small nervous noises, but neither acknowledging the other. Finally when the doors opened, they stepped inside. Both of them reached for the button for the third floor, and as their fingers touched, they jerked their hands back without having pressed it. 

Glancing at Marinette, Adrien chuckled and nodded toward the panel. “Uh, go ahead.”

“Oh,” she blinked before reaching out her hand for the button and quickly pressed it. Her cheeks felt warm as the elevator ascended, and she looked away to examine an interesting spot on the wall. Thankfully the ride up this building was short enough that it didn’t trigger her anxiety. Usually about the time it started to kick in, the ride was over. But even if it had happened immediately, being in such close proximity to Adrien right now would have rendered it powerless. 

Breaking the silence, Adrien asked, “so I’ll be seeing you Monday, right?”

“Yeah!” She replied just a little too loudly for the confined quarters. Marinette resisted the urge to facepalm. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw him smile and look down at his shoes. “Told you.” 

As the doors opened, they made their way to their friend’s door, and both knocked at the same time. 

There were several seconds before the door opened, and when it did, Alya stood in the doorway with pursed lips, her breathing coming a little heavily. “You two have a way of killing-” she stopped, glancing between them as a small smirk formed on her lips. “Why are you both wet?” 

Marinette and Adrien replied simultaneously. 

“We got sprayed by a fire truck.”

“I woke up in a bathtub and we hugged.” 

Snickering, Alya looked to Marinette with a raised eyebrow and a shiteating grin. “A fire truck, huh?” 

Glaring up at Adrien, Marinette slapped the back of her hand against his chest. 

He blinked down at her, with his mouth hanging open. “I-uh…oops.” Realization dawned on his face a second later as he realized what he had just admitted to Alya. 

Laughing loudly, Alya ushered them inside.”Never change, Sunshine.” Alya wouldn’t stop grinning at Marinette, even as the door closed behind them. 

Walking into their living room, Nino was awkwardly smoothing his pants when he saw them and gave a small jump. “Marinette! I’m so glad you’re okay after we saw each other in the street when everything was all over!”

The three of them stopped and stared at Nino, who looked like he was about to start sweating. 

Marinette’s eyes widened and she gave a single, almost imperceptible shake of her head at him as he smiled sheepishly back at her. She silently prayed she hadn’t fucked up in trusting him. She had totally forgotten what a terrible liar Nino was. 

No wonder he and Adrien were such good friends. 

Thankfully, before Alya or Adrien could ask any questions, the t.v. caught their attention as the reporter on screen began talking. All of them turned to watch. 

“We now return to the newsroom where the station has received a video from the man responsible for the attacks that happened only moments ago.” The woman on screen was grave as she spoke. 

The screen cut to a video of Papillon standing with his back to a dark wall in a round room. White butterflies flitted around behind him, and the only defining feature of the room was the shadow of a large round window with the panes set in an intricate design in it’s frame. He stared impassively at the camera for a moment before he spoke. 

His expression barely changed as he began. “Good afternoon, Paris. My name is the Papillon. I come before you, a villain, though I wish it was not so. You see, I have requested the aid of this city’s beloved hero and defender of the innocent to help one of our own. Ladybug.” He spit out her name as if it were something distasteful.

“My wife is gravely ill, and no hospital on earth has the means to save her. While Ladybug is capable of assisting in her recovery, she instead tried to bargain with me for my wife’s life. Instead of giving my wife the help she so desperately needs in order to survive, Ladybug has chosen to let her die.”

He shook his head, his eyes closing on for a moment before he continued. “While I tried to reason with her, I was left with little choice but to make her my enemy. For there is nothing I would not do to save those that I love. It is regrettable, but with her refusal, I am forced to take the only action left to me.”

A heavy sigh escaped him, and Marinette could almost believe his regret. Almost. 

“I will have those who are able, assist me with the power of my akuma in doing battle with her by the means I and my associate possess. Paris will become the area on which we will do battle, and though I regret that this action must be taken, I would do nothing less to save my spouse.”

He looked away as he concluded his announcement. “Many will be injured, there will be delays and inconveniences throughout your day. For this I apologize. But I have been left with little choice in the matter if I am to acquire her miraculous to save my wife.”

His eyes found the camera again, and Marinette felt as though his gaze pierced through her. “Ladybug, I am coming for you. And I will take your miraculous when this is over. Know that this is your doing. Goodbye.”

The screen went blank and the room stood silent. Even the reporter on screen seemed to be taking a moment to process what they had seen. 

From the corner of her eye, she could see Nino glance at her, his eyes holding questions he couldn’t ask aloud. 

The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the akuma, all the while Marinette ignored the looks Nino gave her when no one else was looking. 

…

* * *

…

With her eyes turned to the few visible stars in the sky, Marinette walked back home to the bakery. She had spent most of the day in meditation and talking with Tikki until she dropped the miraculous back off with Wang. She had spent almost two hours grilling him about when she would be getting a new partner, and as usual he was hardly helpful, only promising that it should be sometime soon. 

After getting nowhere except for increasingly frustrated, she’d finally left. She needed a Black Cat. She needed someone she could trust. 

Having Nino along was great, and he did a fantastic job. But that was because he was following her orders. She had spelled out his role in that fight almost to the letter. Granted, that shield throw of his was all him, but she couldn’t help but worry. That much more so because he was her friend, and she had to protect him. 

Marinette had no idea if she could actually trust Nino to function in a pinch, or if he would have what it took to get them out of a jam. 

There was something about the Black Cat, something in the bullshit magic connection between it and the Ladybug that allowed a seamless flow between the two. Working with a Black Cat wielder was so intimate, it was no wonder she had fallen for so many of them. Trusting someone with your life so effortlessly made her dependant, and led her to trust them. In everything. 

No matter how many had left her, even after she stopped allowing herself to give in to those temptations, she still loved her partners. Marinette missed having someone she could operate with on such a nonverbal level, and felt nervous leaving anything up to chance with anyone else. 

She had become so attuned to it, that she could know what her partner would do before they did it. In a way, it reminded her of Spiderman and his spidey sense. She and a Black Cat always worked flawlessly because they could predict what the other was about to do, and act accordingly. 

It was invaluable, and made her feel more secure than anything else. 

That may have been her ultimate problem without the Black Cat in the end. It made her feel vulnerable. Even with as much running from them as she did in the last several centuries, having them somewhere in the world was a great relief. 

She came to the bakery’s sidedoor, pulling her keys from her pocket with a gentle jingle as she searched for the correct one. 

A voice from her right startled her, “hey, Mari?” She acted before she could properly think. Her forearm flew out, slamming her fist into the person’s side, and drove them into the bakery’s wall. Her opposite hand rose with her longest key, her car key, clutched between her knuckles. The fob fit awkwardly and her knuckles ached with her tight grip, while she pressed the length of the key into the man’s neck. 

“Mari! Mari!” Her head cleared a little as recognition for the voice kicked in, and she began to loosen her grip. “Easy!” 

Marinette squinted into the darkness and stepped away from him, dropping her keys in the process. Her hands flew to cover her mouth as she realized she had almost tried to kill one of her best friends. “I’m so sorry, Nino!” Her voice was muffled through her hands, and she realized they were shaking. Her hands clutched each other as she brought them down to her chest. “I’m a little jumpy after today.” Her nerves were still on edge from the akuma, though she had thought herself mostly recovered by now. 

She had forgotten she’d asked him to stop by. All she really wanted was to go to bed. 

As her heart recovered, he held his laptop bag in place as he bent down and grabbed her keys. “It’s okay,” Nino shrugged, “I get it.” He held out his hands for a hug, “probably a dumb question, but are you okay?” 

Scoffing, she walked into his arms and dropped her nose to his shoulder as she squeezed his middle. “Fuck no,” she muttered. 

Nino gave her a quick squeeze and let her go. He fumbled with the keys and found the correct one, unlocking the door before handing them back to her. 

“Thanks,” she mumbled. She shoved the keys in her pocket, carefully avoiding her purse so as not to wake a sleeping Tikki. Marinette opened the door, her hands still quivering a little, and turned right to go to the bakery. “Do you want some hot chocolate? I definitely need some after this day.” 

Tom and Sabine’s hot chocolate was her crutch these days. With liquor and drugs off the table, sweets had become something of a vice for her in their place. She’d smoked cigarettes for a bit when she’d first been trying to quit, but the smell had driven her away from them. It had made her mouth taste terrible, her clothes always seemed to reek of it, and it had ruined more than one bolt of fabric she’d been working with at the time. With how much exercise she got in, sugar was an easy vice to excuse. 

Shutting the door behind them, Nino laughed, “I’ll always take some off-the-books hot chocolate.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes as she opened the door to the bakery. Grabbing the electric kettle and a large measuring cup from under the cash register, she pushed the cup into his hands. “Fill this with milk while I plug this in.” 

“On it, dude,” he nodded as he took the handle and headed to the fridge. 

As he ran behind her, she turned back to the counter. Marinette found an outlet and secured the plug before she flipped the switch on. Nino reached around her and poured the milk in the chamber. 

Putting the measuring cup aside, he raised his hand for a high five, “hows that for some non-magic teamwork?” 

Slapping her palm against his, she rolled her eyes. “Impeccable work, Nino.” 

He nodded, and leaned his back against the glass divider behind the register. Silence stretched between them for a moment before he asked, “so…?”

Exhaling, Marinette jumped up onto the counter and kicked her feet a little in the open air. “He’s lying, obviously.” She looked back at him with a shrug. “About a century and a half ago, the Temple of the Guardians was attacked, and the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous were stolen. I’ve been looking for them ever since.” She sighed, “and then he calls me out of the blue today and just demands that I hand over my miraculous to save his wife. I mean, he already has two stolen miraculous. Was I really just supposed to send him two more?”

“A century and a half?” He whistled, his eyes wide. “I guess that makes sense…” he had trouble meeting her eye. “But, did you really not try to help his wife?” 

Groaning, Marinette ran a hand through her hair. “I made him a few different offers of ways I could help, but he wouldn’t accept anything less than mine and the Black Cat miraculous.” She growled in frustration, “together their power is nearly limitless. It’s destruction and creation brought together. Someone like him, wielding _that kind_ of power…” She shook her head. “There was no way I, much less the guardians would allow that to happen. So, he did what any spoiled child does. He threw a tantrum.” Marinette scoffed, “and Paris is going to pay the price.”

Nino reached a hand across the short distance, and she grabbed it, thankful for the support. “I just had to ask, you know? It’s like I’m not going to believe you over some psychopath who would… do… _that_ to Alya.” 

Nodding, Marinette met his eye as their hands dropped back to their sides. “I get it, Nino. I’d want to know the same thing.” 

He blew out a large breath and shook his head. “This stuff is crazy. Like… how long have you,” he shrugged, “you know? Been doing…” Nino waved his arms through the air. “All of _this_?”

Scoffing, Marinette shook her head. “Longer than you’d believe.” It was always relieving to be able to talk to friends about her life. She had told plenty of her friends her identity in the past, though that was usually because she had trusted them with it. She had rarely been careless enough to let it happen by accident. But part of her was glad she did this time. If nothing else, she needed someone she could be honest with, now more than ever. 

Marinette sniffed, looking down at her flats as they bumped against the counter. “Way too long,” she muttered. The problem with this exchange though, was always knowing where to start.

“Oh…” Nino was quiet for a moment as the silence stretched between them. “You know, you don’t have to talk to me about this if you don’t want to, ‘Nette.” He shrugged, “After today? I get that it’s a lot.” 

“No!” She shook her head, “No, I definitely want to!” She worried her cheek, “it’s just hard to know where to begin.” She shrugged, looking away. “It’s always hard telling people I care about the truth.” 

He laughed, “you mean about you being a kick-ass superhero straight out of a comic book?” 

She sighed, “that. And how old I really am…” she looked back to Nino with a weak smile. “And… _who_ I really am.” 

Face scrunching in confusion, Nino crossed his arms. “What do you mean? As far as I can see, you’re just Marinette. And I never thought you were much older than me and Al.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Most people usually do. But…” Marinette shook her head, “I’m more than a few millenia old at this point in my life.” 

Nino rolled his eyes, saying sarcastically, “right. You’ve been running around in skin tight spandex since before the Romans killed J.C.?”

She snorted, “that’s a way of putting it.” Marinette smirked, “another is, I’ve eaten a few wooly mammoth steaks in my day.”

He seemed to be waiting for the punchline as he stared at her. And the longer he did, the more his face fell, his eyes widening as he realized she might be serious. His voice was quiet as he asked, “didn’t they die like… ten thousand years ago?”

Shrugging, she blew out the corner of her mouth as she thought. “On the mainland, sure, but you remember that island a few years back where they found one preserved in the ice?” 

Nino only nodded, his face set.

“I think that was the one I went to when we hunted them." Marinette shrugged, "but that was like…” she trailed off as she started counting on her fingers. “Uh… Seven? Thousand years ago?” It was hard to remember for sure. She knew it was around the same time as the Egyptians started work on the first of the great pyramids, despite Khufu trying to steal credit for them a couple millenia later. But then, she’d rarely known him to tell the truth.

Jaw dropping as he stared at her, Nino blinked several times. He looked a little bit like his brain was rebooting. He finally gasped out, “you hunted _mammoths_ to survive that _long_ ago?”

Marinette laughed, waving the question away. “No! No, no.” She shook her head, “it wasn’t survival! It was more a reward for helping to save this village from…” she scrunched up her brows as she tried to remember. “Uh…” Oh, what was it? She hummed in thought before finally shrugging. “I don’t remember what it was. But they took me with them to go hunt some mammoths as a reward.” 

Nino was quiet as he looked her up and down as if he was trying to picture her that long ago. He gaped, the longer he stared, but didn’t make a sound. 

Raising an eyebrow, she smirked, “keep checking me out like that, and I’m gonna tell Alya.” 

“Sorry!” He looked away, blinking rapidly. “I just…” he looked back, gesturing at her. “How? Did you just spend your life dodging soulmates?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never had one, Nino.” 

His voice was hushed, “never?” 

It was the same reaction most people gave. The look of surprise, the whispered shock, even the word. She’d seen this reaction from nearly everyone she had ever told. 

Marinette nodded. “I’ve loved a lot of people in my life but, every one of them has eventually left when they’ve found their soulmate.” Eliza’s face came to mind as she spoke. “Well, almost every one. The last girl I fell in love with, I left because she didn’t want to leave me.” She hugged herself, muttering, “I keep telling myself it was for her own good.” 

Sympathy was written all over Nino’s face. His voice was still quiet as he said, “she must have really loved you.”

Looking to the ceiling, Marinette let out a long ragged sigh. “Yeah.” She nodded, looking back to him. “But I hope she ended up being happy.” 

They both stood in silence for a while, Nino processing what she had told him, while she thought of Eliza. The only sound was the gentle rumble of the kettle as it rolled up to a boil. Finally the kettle kicked off and Marinette jumped down from the counter and grabbed two mugs from the rack next to them. She grabbed the cocoa from a cabinet beneath the counter, and dumped measured scoops into the cups before pouring the milk over each. 

From over her shoulder, Nino handed her two wooden stir sticks. She chuckled, “thanks.” 

“No big,” he said as she plopped the sticks into the cups. 

Marinette handed one off to Nino and began stirring her own. 

“So, I’ve gotta ask.” Nino looked up at her with a small smile. “Was Jesus a real dude?”

Shrugging, she continued stirring her cocoa. “I don’t know.” 

“What?!” He looked aghast that she might not know something. “But you just told me you were around then!”

Scoffing, Marinette took a small sip of her cocoa. As the combination of bittersweet chocolate and milk rolled over her tongue, she let out a small hum of contentment. It was almost like she could feel every neuron fire as the thick, sweet, flavor slid across her taste buds. She chuckled again at Nino’s question, “just because I was alive doesn’t mean I was there.” She shrugged, “I was enslaved by the Romans in Spain at the time.”

He nearly spit out his cocoa, but managed to force it down as he gasped out, “what?!” 

She took another drink before she set her cup down on the counter. Pulling back her sleeve, Marinette showed him her inner bicep where the letters FVG were clearly scarred into her skin. 

Nino shook his head, “I don’t get it.” 

Letting her sleeve drop, she grabbed her mug again, wrapping both hands around it. The warmth felt comforting against the memory. “It stands for fugitivus in Latin. Fugitive.” She shrugged, “it’s what they would brand slaves who tried to escape with.”

“Holy shit,” he whispered in awe. “You’re _such_ a badass!” Nino shook his head, “but… how? You should have easily Ladybugged your way out of there.”

“It was complicated.” Another sip of hot chocolate helped steady her for the next part. “I made sure Cleopatra got a proper burial after she died. I left my miraculous in her wrappings because I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of there without a fight and…” she sighed, remembering. “And I wasn’t going to disrespect her burial that way.” 

Eyes widening, Nino gaped at her. “Whoa! You mean…” he drew a heart in the air. “You, and Cleopatra were-”

“No!” Marinette laughed. “Ew, no! She was one of my best friends back then. I had known her since she was young, and she made me her advisor.” She smiled wistfully into her mug. “I didn’t trust the Romans to give her a proper burial. So, I made a deal with them. I would get to mummify and bury her, and I’d come with them in chains.” She shrugged. Cleo had also asked that she watch over her children after she was gone, but she had been given little choice where she was taken after she’d been sold. They might as well have been a world away in Rome.

“So…” he raised an eyebrow with a grin, “was she as hot as everybody says?”

Growling in disgust, Marinette stopped herself from glaring at him. “The Romans were scared of her and spread stories of her being some seductive harlot who was a threat to Rome because of how she spread her legs.” She rolled her eyes, “she was pretty yeah. But she was also strategic, and _so_ intelligent! She was funny, and clumsy, and a complete dork in private. She was powerful, and stern in her rule, and she had enemies by the dozens because she refused to bow to _anyone_.” Marinette shook her head, “it was why Antony was attracted to and married her. And the Romans killed them because their children would have been the legitimate heirs to the throne. They were terrified of the thought of a foreign born leader.” 

“Oh shit…Sorry.” Nino blinked in surprise. “I guess I never really thought politics were such a big thing back then.” 

Chuckling, Marinette shook her head. “If one thing has stayed constant, it’s that politics have always been a shitshow.”

“So,” he drank some of his hot chocolate. “How did you get your miraculous back then?”

The cup was starting to grow cooler in her hands as she took another mouthful. “I was enslaved for about seventy years, passed between two or three families, and I tried to escape five or six times before I finally got away.” Marinette swirled the chocolate in her mug as it neared the bottom. “I managed to get back to Egypt, snuck into her tomb, took back my earrings, and then I fled for India.” She shrugged again. “I’d opposed the rise of Rome for a couple of centuries, and lost a lot along the way. Cleo dying was the last straw. I was sick of a futile fight and left.”

“That sucks, dude.” Nino drained his cup before he checked his watch. “Oh shit, I need to get going.” He put his cup on the counter next to her. “I’m going to be late for my gig.” 

Simple as it was, she appreciated the sentiment. What else was there to say? It definitely sucked.

“Okay,” she set her cup down next to his and rose on her toes to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “Thanks for coming by.” She gave him a squeeze, “it was nice to actually tell someone the truth for once.”

He squeezed her back before they let go. “I definitely want to hear more! But, we’ll have to talk about it later, okay?” Nino smiled as he turned for the door, “I like getting to know the real you.” 

“Goodnight, Nino.” She waved as he walked out the back of the bakery. Marinette heaved a heavy sigh, grabbing her cup and she drained the mug. It was nice to talk with him, but remembering her past could be emotionally draining. 

She would never admit it to anyone, but she had been in love with Cleopatra. Even if she had never returned the feeling. 

Grabbing the mugs and the kettle, she carried them to the sink and began washing them before making her way to bed. 

…

* * *

…

Sliding his keys onto the table by the front door, Adrien laid his bag down on the floor beside it. As he kicked his shoes off, he stared at his hand, flexing his fingers and feeling the muscles and tissue stretch just like they were supposed to. It was so strange, seeing his hand work when just a few hours before, he was sure the burns would keep it from ever working right again. 

In the back of his mind, the flames flickered and his fight with those creatures wouldn’t leave his memory. The irony of his being healed was that his memory was still seared with the event. Seeing Ladybug had given him such hope that things were going to be okay, but then that guy had stopped her from getting to him, and he had been sure he was going to die. At a certain point, when the things just kept coming, and she had been surrounded, he had accepted his death. 

Of course he wasn’t thrilled about it, but his arm had been heavy, and his movements had gotten sluggish as his breath became more and more labored in his ragged lungs. His body ached and bled in dozens of places from the burns he’d received. He had come to terms with his death in moments as the futility of his fight overwhelmed him. He’d been so determined to keep his friends safe at first, but after they were gone, it was nothing more than a desperate fight for survival. 

And he’d lost. 

He remembered being engulfed by fire as his arm refused to rise again. And then he’d woken up in the bathtub, whole and soaked. Seeing Marinette had admittedly made him feel better, and she had put his mind at such ease as they held one another. 

It was deeply unprofessional, but after coming so close to death today, he knew what he wanted. And he wanted to take Marinette on a date, if she would let him. She seemed so skittish around him, and Nino had told him that she was into him too. What would the harm be? It’s not like they would be working directly together. And after today, he didn’t want to waste any time.

Monday. Monday at lunch he would ask her to Thai, and he was going to ask her on a date then. Sure it might have technically been a date, but they’d already talked about going as co-workers and… well, he wanted something official.

Rounding the corner, he pulled out his phone as he grinned with the realization. He wanted to date Marinette like he’d wanted to date nobody else. A part of him held out the secret hope that she could be his soulmate. But really, what were the odds of that?

He tapped Nino’s name as he headed for the couch, but he noticed there was someone sitting there already from the corner of his eye. Adrien looked up to find a small, east Asian man in a horrible hawaiian shirt sitting, with his feet dangling, on his couch next to a hat and coat. The man nodded to him, in greeting. “Hello, Adrien.”

“Who the he- How did you get in my home?!” He clutched his phone tightly, angry that someone would invade his space so brazenly. 

The man smiled, “I understand your confusion, but I assure you, I am here for the benefit of all Paris.” He shrugged, “and for Ladybug, I suppose.”

Adrien blinked in surprise. “For… Ladybug?” He felt caught off guard suddenly. He’d had a crush on Ladybug since he was little, and as much as Nino gave him crap for it, he just couldn’t quite get rid of the feelings. 

“Yes,” the man nodded as he reached into his pocket, producing a small, dark, octagonal, box with an intricate red engraving on the top. “Ladybug is a phenomenal hero, but even she needs a partner to watch her back. And more so than ever with this new threat of the Papillon.” He gripped the top of the box with his free hand and opened it, revealing a silver ring sitting on a red cushion. “This is the Black Cat miraculous, the yin of destruction, to Ladybug’s yang of creation.”

The old man looked knowingly into Adrien’s eyes as he spoke. “I have sought a new Black Cat wielder since the retirement of Shadow Cat. And after the events of this day, I have seen that there is none more worthy, more self-sacrificing, or more determined to protect the innocent, than you, Adrien Agreste.”

He gaped in surprise at the old man. “Uh-” while he was sure this was a solemn moment, he couldn’t help but stare back at his gentle intensity like a moron. He was going to be Ladybug’s partner? His heart started to beat quickly at the thought of working alongside her, and he felt a stupid giddy grin rise in his chest despite himself. “Is this for real?”

Sliding off of the couch, the old man approached him with a wry grin, holding the box out for him to take. “It is.” 

Taking the box from his hands, Adrien reached tentatively for the ring inside. As his fingers touched it, there was bright light, and a small black cat-like figure with bright green eyes yawned into existence, stretching his arms. 

Looking down at the old man, the cat glared. “It’s about time, Fu. I’m starving!” He looked to Adrien with heavily lidded eyes, “hey, Kid. You got any cheese?”

He blinked in surprise as he held the ring in his palm. “Uh… yeah. In the fridge.” He pointed to the kitchen, “help yourself?”

“Thanks!” As he zipped off, he looked over his shoulder at the old man, “at least _someone_ has some sense of hospitality!” He yelled back before vanishing through the wall. 

Shaking his head in disgust, Fu muttered, “Jean-Paul spoiled that damn kwami.” 

“What…” Adrien’s brain felt like it was struggling to catch up, “was that?”

The cat creature called back from the kitchen, "My name is Plagg, and I _heard_ that, Fu!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That felt like a pretty good chill chapter after that last one, I hope. Things ramped up so suddenly in 6, I think a calm chapter was pretty necessary ^.^ Plus, our dorks got some time together, and I’m always a fan of that! Oh my gosh, and Nino! Nino! I love him, and I will fight you if you say a bad word about him.
> 
> This chapter was REALLY hard to write. Like… harder than the last one O.o I honestly didn’t even think I was going to get it finished this week. I only had about 2500 words of it written on Tuesday ^.^; Omg and I ended up writing it in such a weird order! I had like the middle of the first section first, then the Nino and Mari conversation done entirely. Then I wrote Adrien’s section. Then I wrote the section after they left the alley up to Papillon on the the news. And then finally I finished the first section after the akuma battle???? 
> 
> Somehow it all worked relatively well together… 
> 
> I think. 
> 
> Please tell me if it didn’t so that I can not change it and just feel bad as I move forward and let it haunt me day and night until I die. 
> 
> So yeah, this week I’m not getting my hopes up. I’m writing chapter 8. If more gets done, sick. I’ll be thrilled. But with how long this chapter got, I don’t expect myself to be any less long winded at this point xD 
> 
> Next week, we’ve got a mostly Nino perspective chapter, with a lil bit of Alya. Marinette is freaking out, Ladybug gets smeared in the press, Adrien has a new toy, and Nino is just doing his best to keep up. 
> 
> Until then, I’ll see ya’ll where I see you ^.^ Thanks again for reading, and have a good week <3


	8. A Reprieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya researches. Breakfast with the trio. Adrien is a shit. Nino is doing his best to cope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is up you guys?! 
> 
> I’m just chillin’, sick again, and W A N T I N G T O D I E! < 3
> 
> Ugh and my son is sick and we had to change the sheets a couple times on our bed last night because he vomited twice D: 
> 
> So, if this chapter seems a little disjointed from normal, know that it’s because my sick brain just… wasn’t working right. Sorry! I’m not super happy with this chapter, but it’s not awful. On the other hand, my sick brain has less of a tendency to go on, so this one is only sitting around the 6.6k word mark lol. But I still reasonably set out to accomplish the plot points I wanted to for it. Hopefully none of them feel too forced!
> 
> I was hoping to have a Nanowrimo length project after posting this, but my stupid sick brain couldn’t even make that work >.< Ah well, there’s always next week lol
> 
> Oh! Something funny I just realized yesterday? I accidentally made Adrien’s reaction to being told he would get the black cat miraculous a direct mirror of Marinette’s reaction to being told about the job at Gabriel xD Both of them asking, “is this for real?”
> 
> It almost makes it look like I write with symmetrical intention and planned that! But I stumbled into it with all the grace of an octopus falling down some stairs and sticking the landing!
> 
> Speaking of stumbling into things! So you know how I joked last week about the odds of being run over the freight train of inspiration as I was going to bed? Well guess what happened at 2am the other night as I crawled out of the shower?! xD (having a 13 month old child had destroyed any semblance of normalcy in my life x.x)Yeah, I stayed up until after 3 writing notes because I suddenly had an idea of how the story was going to proceed. 
> 
> Now, I’m still going to be sticking with the plan of a one week break after chapter 10. This just means I’m not going to have to think too hard about the outline now. But, I’m still going to need the extra time to actually sit down and write it. I have out to chapter 20 planned now, but that’s… just the beginning of our first major plot arc ^.^;
> 
> Not saying that things significant to the plot don’t happen before then, but it’s our first of three big arcs that I have planned. I wasn't kidding when I said this would be a long ride :P
> 
> But yeah! Now here's the fever dream I wrote ^.^ I HOPE IT'S OKAY @.@!!!!

Once Nino left for work, Alya was alone with her thoughts. All day, despite her friends asking, she had insisted that she was okay. And at the time, that had been the truth. She had been doing her best not to think of the earlier part of the day when she had been burned alive, and later came back to consciousness laying in the street. But once her friends had left, she had buried the memories in the back of her mind and lost herself in bed with Nino for the rest of the day. It had been easier than thinking. Her mind didn’t go anywhere she wanted to be, and Nino had only been too happy to oblige.

Now, his space next to her had grown cold, and the memories of searing flesh and a brief, yet unending agony overwhelmed her as she lay clutching the bed sheets in white knuckled fists. It was impossible to get the images from her mind. The feelings of every nerve ending firing as they screamed in pain, and the smell of her flesh as it charred. She tried to hold back the tears as she remembered the hopelessness, the knowledge that she was going to die and leave Nino all alone. 

His expression came to mind again and again as the memory played in Alya’s head. The fear, the pain, and the horror that showed on his face as he tried to reach out to her, but couldn’t quite reach. She hated remembering the guilt on his face as he realized there wasn’t anything he could do. She’d heard snapping and popping as her awareness faded, and her last thought had been thinking her limbs were filled with pop rocks as they jolted and cracked. And then… nothing. 

Tears rolled down her cheeks as the memory ran again for the dozenth time. Finally she threw back the blankets, the night air chilly against her bare skin. Alya pulled on her bathrobe and a warm pair of socks, and headed out to the living room to do the one thing she knew would distract her. 

Research. 

Turning on the kettle, she ground some coffee and emptied it into her coffee press. While she waited for the water, Alya booted up her laptop and went back to the kitchen. She leaned on the counter as she scrolled through the day’s headlines on her phone and found several videos of… the incident. Ladybug had been incredible as always, and even though Alya was horrified by the events shown, she couldn’t help but admire her handiwork. She’d always had a bit of a crush on the hero, after all. But then, who hadn’t? But what confused her most of all was the appearance of her turtle themed partner. No matter where she looked, Alya couldn’t find his name anywhere. 

Try as she might to remember, she couldn’t recall having ever seen a turtle superhero. It had always been Ladybug and Shadow Cat her entire life. Well, until he retired that was. 

But looking through records, she had found a few references and even pictures of a different turtle hero from the nineteen forties. But this was different, his outfit more resembling a classical east Asian soldier rather than the more modern hoodie and tights of the man who’d been seen today. It looked like the older one was called Jade Turtle, but after the second world war, he had completely dropped off the map as quickly as he’d arrived. 

Going back further, before Shadow Cat, there was a different hero called Night Prowler who was also themed after a black cat. But he was active from nineteen oh eight to nineteen sixty-nine in Vietnam and China, mostly.

And that was when she noticed something peculiar. 

The kettle whistled, and she got up to pour the water. Alya placed her full coffee press on a tray along with a jar of sugar, a cup of milk, a hot pad, and a mug, before heading back to her seat at her laptop. She placed the tray next to her computer at the desk and went back to work. 

Opening a second tab, she pulled the window to one side of the screen, and sized a second to fit next to it. She then brought up a recent picture of Ladybug from a news article. She stood triumphantly, her hands on her hips, hair swept back in a small bun with shaved down sides, and a big smile on her face. 

On the left side was a grainy, yellowed picture from a Chinese newspaper from nineteen twenty-six. It showed the aforementioned Night Prowler off to the left in a black leotard with a matching black overcoat, short black hair, and a domino mask. But at his right side was a woman in an eerily similar pose to the first, her hair pulled back into twin pigtails, wearing more or less the same form fitted spotted outfit. The color of it was impossible to tell due to the image quality, but there was no mistaking the smile on her face. 

Looking back and forth, Alya knew in the pit of her stomach that it was the same person. 

She’d read lots of stories of Ladybug growing up, but she’d always assumed they were different people. But seeing these two images side by side… 

Shaking her head, she pressed the handle of her press down, and watched as the grounds were pushed to the bottom of the container. Alya always loved watching this part. Putting two sugars in her mug, she poured the coffee to half an inch below the rim, followed by another quarter inch of milk, and stirred the mixture. 

Once she was satisfied, she took a drink and held the cup tightly with both hands as she stared at the pictures more. 

It wasn’t uncommon to hear of someone who had lived more than a century without finding a soulmate, but that Ladybug was one of them surprised her. It had never occurred to her that Ladybug wouldn’t be destined for her partner. But now that she thought about it, it seemed silly.

Holding the mug in one hand, she typed with the other as she looked further back for more photos. It took a little while, but the furthest back she could find a photo was from nearly a hundred years earlier from a French newspaper from eighteen sixty-five. In it stood a young asian woman next to several black men and women holding chains triumphantly over their heads. The headline read; Spotted Lady Thwarts Slave Trade in Senegal. 

The woman wore a domino mask, loose trousers, a rumpled tunic, and a vest, all of which, like everything else in the photo, were monochrome grey with black spots. A yo-yo was just visible at her side. Though her expression was more serious, her arms held behind her back, and her legs stock straight. Alya could easily make out the same prominent facial features which she recognized in the picture of the modern Ladybug. 

“Hmmpf…” she sipped at her coffee trying to wrap her head around what it could mean. Was it really possible that Ladybug was that old? 

Opening a new tab, she googled the age of the oldest person on record and found a woman named Faizah Safar from Saudi Arabia aged two hundred thirty-seven. 

Next she googled, ‘How old is Ladybug?’, but the results were mixed with ages falling anywhere between sixteen and five hundred years old. Some dated her to just under a couple of decades ago, and given that she looked to not have a soulmate yet, that didn’t seem far off. But there were other cited sources of young asian women in the mantle of the Ladybug in one form or another going back to just after the death of Jeanne d’Arc. 

There were short stints where it seemed women of other nationalities held the title, but there was a consistent presence of an asian ladybug. It did list Jeanne as being a potential Ladybug as well, though how that was possible, Alya wasn’t sure.

Drinking her coffee, Alya clicked back to the oldest picture wondering if it was really possible that it was the same girl. If it was, that would make her at least as old as Faizah Safar… could that be Ladybug’s real name?

Googling the woman didn’t turn up much more than a few birthdays toward the end of her life, her becoming the oldest person in recorded history, a death announcement and her eulogy. Skimming through it, she couldn’t find anything notable about the woman that would hint toward a secret identity. Born in Saudi Arabia in seventeen eighty, died in England in two thousand seventeen. Birthed several children, many of whom were still alive today. A couple of spouses until she finally found her soulmate. 

Overall, the woman, despite her long life, had been fairly unexceptional. Just an average person doing their best with far more time than most got. And the fact that she had died three years ago meant there was no way she could be Ladybug.

Looking up Jeanne d’Arc didn’t help much. She had been a fairly average French girl for the thirteenth century, despite her being a religious zealot. But the thing that stood out was that several of the depictions of her showed her with a red and black spotted tabard over her armor. But she was very much described as a white french woman. 

Looking up Ladybug’s wikipedia page didn’t yield much in the way of results either, only talking of Ladybug as a vague entity rather than a single constant person. It had several mentions of something called a Miraculous, though there didn’t seem to be any information about what it actually was. There were links to several other hero titles associated with the Miraculous concept though. 

But the one helpful thing it did have was a list of her appearances over the world in myth and recorded history. 

It was a solid place to start. 

Jumping as the front door opened, Alya looked to a bleary eyed Nino as he walked in. He blinked, looking confused. “Al? What are you doing up?”

Glancing at the time, she saw that it was four in the morning. Time had really gotten away from her. She shrugged, “I had trouble sleeping after… yesterday.” 

Dropping his bag by the door, Nino stretched with a small groan. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Sparing one last look at the computer screen, Alya shut her laptop and walked to Nino, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his neck. She nodded, pressing a small kiss to his collarbone as he squeezed her. Feeling his arms around her was the relief she had needed all night, and she gave a contented sigh as he leaned down and swept her legs up to carry her bridal style to the bedroom. 

He nuzzled his cheek against her hair and laid her on the bed. He quickly changed into his pajama pants and crawled into bed beside her, her hands already squeezing beneath his arms and grabbing his shoulders to pull him closer. Alya rubbed her face against his chest, breathing him in, and felt her frazzled nerves begin to calm for the first time all night. 

Finally, she whispered, “when it happened, all I could think about was how I was leaving you alone.” Her hand felt his jaw, the stubble having grown scratchy by this point in the day, and her fingers trailed up to tangle in his hair. “I remember the look on your face, and thought about how I never wanted to leave you like that.” 

His lips touched the top of her head as he drew circles on her back. “I was so worried I had lost you, all I could think about was getting you back.” He sounded far away as he went on. “A part of me thought about giving in, and just letting myself go so I could be with you.” Nino’s arms wrapped around her tightly, “I just kept hoping that you knew what you meant to me. I-” he let out a deep breath, his voice thick as he held back tears. “I kept thinking that I hoped you knew how much I loved you. How important you are, how happy you make me.” He sighed, burying his face in her hair. “You know I love you, right?”

Nodding against his chest, Alya felt a smile tug at her lips. “I know. But…” she shuddered, kissing his clavicle again, “after today? I feel like I’ve taken so much of us for granted, and I want to share every possible thing with you.” Their eyes met as they looked to smile at one another. “I want to marry you.” 

They had both been fairly standoffish about the idea of marriage. It had always felt like a stupid hoop to jump through, and it just seemed so expected. They had been together so long, they didn’t need a piece of paper that told me what they already knew. 

He grinned, “I was actually thinking the same thing.” 

Pushing herself up his chest, Nino pulled her toward him, and their lips met. It was tender and soft, more timid than the ones shared earlier in the day. But the emotion behind it was stronger, and as their lips parted, and their tongues touched tentatively, a spark passed between them that sent shudders through them both. They pulled back, a nervous giddiness in Nino’s eyes that matched her own. 

She hid her face in his chest as she started to giggle, and his deep throaty chuckle joined her as he kissed the top of her head again. With a massive grin, she asked, “so, we’re going to do this?” 

He muttered tiredly against her hair, “I want to be the mister Césaire to your misses Lahiffe.”

“Good,” she murmured as sleep began to take her, finally. Feeling so safe and secure in his arms, Alya knew it was exactly where she wanted to be, for as long as she could. 

...

* * *

…

Holding Alya in his arms, Nino stared down at the messy bush her hair had become in the night. He couldn’t even see her face through it, much less anything above her waist. He smiled and pressed a light kiss to the top of her head so as not to wake her. “God, I love you,” he murmured. 

Carefully reaching his arm back so as not to disturb her, Nino’s hand found his phone. He pulled it back and clicked his unlock button to check the time. It was twelve minutes to eleven, and Marinette would show up soon for breakfast. Sunday was always a day she would show up to see them, and he hoped today wouldn’t be any different. And with Alya passed out, it would be a perfect opportunity to talk with her a little more. 

Sliding a pillow between Alya and himself, he carefully slid his arm out from under her and moved away across the bed until his feet found open air. Righting himself, he stood and headed out to the living room as quietly as possible. As he closed the bedroom door, he unlocked his phone and shot Marinette a quick message. 

__

_ Sun at 10:53am _  
_You coming over for breakfast?_

Putting his phone on the counter, he grabbed Alya’s coffee tray from the night before and took it to the kitchen. Nino turned on the kettle while he washed her mug and the press, tossing the old grounds in the process. While he waited, he ground new beans, and then went back to check his phone to see he had a message from Marinette.

_ Sun at 10:59am _  
**Mari:**  
_Yeah. I’ll probably be 20-30 minutes. Need coffee?_

Nino replied, 

__

_ Sun at 11:06am _  
_Got coffee covered. Thanks though. See you soon!_

He was about to put his phone down, but something occurred to him, and he just had to ask.

__

_ Sun at 11:07am _  
_Do things like phones and toilets feel weird to you, or have you  
gotten used to them?_

His phone buzzed a few times in his hand as he went back to the kitchen. Before he checked the message, he poured the water over the grounds in the press and replaced the lid. Putting everything back on the tray with an extra mug, he carried it to the living room where he set it down on their coffee table. Finally, he checked the message.

_ Sun at 11:09am _  
**Mari:**  
_Can you spare a bit of that energy liquid for me?_

_DEFINITELY WEIRD!!!!_

_JESUS FUCKING CHRIST (blaspheming seriously gives me  
life. you have NO idea.) NOT HAVING TO SHIT IN A HOLE IS  
AMAZING AND I LOVE IT!!!!!! EMPTYING A CHAMBER POT  
SUCKS!!!! Although, sometimes I do still go to the corner of my  
bedroom looking for one in the middle of the night ^.^;_

_And Phones make me feel old as hell -_- Remember when  
I had Alya help me set up my new one? Yeah… I’m that grandma  
everyone makes fun of. I stayed up all night trying to figure it out  
with Tikki. And you don’t want to know how many years it  
took me to understand what lol meant._

Nino dropped to the couch as he laughed. He sent her back,

__

_ Sun at 11:13am _  
_lol_

_And of course._

She replied almost instantly.

_ Sun at 11:13am _  
**Mari:**  
_Fuck you._

_And thank you! <3_

When they had first met Marinette, she had used an old flip phone that she’d had since two thousand five, and Alya had relentlessly made fun of her for it. Mari insisted that it worked just fine and she didn’t need a 'fancy smartphone’. He and Alya had finally convinced her to get one after she dropped the old one in the toilet. At the time, watching her learn to use it was pretty funny, and Nino had told her his grandma had an easier time learning to use hers.

Of course, now he felt bad for it. Technology like that was probably about the most foreign thing out there for her. 

Pressing the plunger on the coffee press, he scrolled through Twitter and and Instagram while waiting for her to show up. Just as he was reading a wedding announcement for their friends Juleka and Rose, there was a knock at the door. 

Jumping up to let her in, Nino leaned in for a hug as he shut the door. “Morning!”

Marinette seemed to be in a good mood despite everything yesterday. She gave him a quick squeeze, balancing the pastry box with her free hand. “Morning, Nino.” She glanced into the living room as they seperated. “Where’s Alya?”

Pointing his shoulder he shrugged. “Still in bed. Yesterday messed her up pretty bad. She was still up when I got home this morning.” 

The smile seemed to fall from her face. “How’s she doing?”

“Better, I think.” He shrugged as they went back toward the living room. “Go figure, but dying freaked her out a lot.” Sitting down in his favorite chair, he grinned at Marinette as she sat across from him. “We uh… talked about changing our stance on marriage last night.”

Mouth falling open in surprise, Marinette opened the pastry box and set it between them. “No way! Are you going to propose to her or how are you doing this?”

He shrugged as he poured coffee into their mugs, “I dunno.” Sliding hers across the table, he grabbed an apple danish as his hand came back. “I was kinda hoping you could help me with that?”

Grinning from ear to ear as she stirred sugar into her cup, Marinette nodded. “I’d love to!”

“Awesome!” Nino glanced down at his danish, stopping as he was about to take a bite. He looked back at her, “hey, Nette? Are uh…” he hoped this wouldn’t sound insulting. “Are you going to remember us after we’re… gone?”

Blinking several times at the question, Marinette stared down at the tart in her hand. She didn’t quite meet his eye as she whispered, “I hope so, Nino.” She shrugged, “for as long as I can.” 

Popping out of Marinette’s purse, Tikki settled on the cushion next to her with a macaron clutched in her hands. “I won’t let her forget you two,” she said cheerily. 

Eyeing the little kwami, Nino couldn’t quite believe she was there. Had Tikki always been in the room with them, just hiding in Marinette’s bag? “Thanks,” he smiled at her. “Hey, can I ask you something?” 

The kwami nodded enthusiastically, “sure!” 

“Where do kwami’s come from?” The question had been on his mind since he had met Wayzz yesterday. 

Munching on her cookie before she answered, Tikki smiled. “Well, we’re born as the embodiment of abstract concepts or emotions when they first come into existence. I’m the kwami of creation, and I’m oldest, since I came into being at the beginning of the universe.” She kicked her little feet as they dangled over the edge of the couch cushion. “But concepts like love, death, destruction, math, and even justice have a kwami associated with them.”

“Thats…” he laughed, “confusing!” 

Nodding, Marinette swallowed a drink of coffee. “It never really makes sense, but you kinda learn to roll with it.”

“So…” he raised an eyebrow, “does that mean that the miraculous are as old as the universe then?”

“No, silly!” Tikki giggled, “They were created by a mage in China around eleven thousand years ago before the end of the last ice age. He and his friends learned to communicate with the Kwami when we were just wandering spirits.”

Rolling her eyes, Marinette raised her coffee cup as if toasting them. “Good times.” 

Nino narrowed his eyes at Marinette, “wait… were you…?”

Laughing, Marinette shook her hood, “no, Nino.” She stared almost bitterly into her mug. “I was just one of the first ones they decided to push the responsibility on.” 

His voice was almost a whisper as he asked, “eleven thousand years?”

“Give or take a couple decades,” she deadpanned.

It was difficult to imagine that kind of time even existing, much less someone having lived so long. It had been nearly impossible to wrap his mind around last night when she had said seven thousand. 

Waiting for your soulmate sounded like such a romantic and beautiful concept from where he’d always stood. Nino couldn’t imagine what that many years alone would feel like, knowing how complete he felt with Alya. By comparison, Marinette must have felt like a prisoner in her own body for so long.

Nino shook his head. “I don’t understand how you’ve made it so long. I’d have off’d myself like nine thousand years ago.” 

Humming, Marinette shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I tried once or twice.”

“It was five times,” Tikki announced as she stared down at the floor.

“What?!” Nino put down his coffee cup, glancing between the two of them. 

Pointing a thumb at her kwami, Marinette shrugged. “She has a crystal clear memory of like… every moment she’s been alive.”

“But…” talking about this was confusing the more he learned. “If she remembers so much… why don’t you have her remind you?”

Marinette glanced down at Tikki and stroked the back of her head gently. “There’s a lot I don’t want to remember. And sooner or later, I’m going to forget again anyway.” She smiled sadly back at Nino, “There’s just too many memories to pack in.”

“Wow, Nette.” Nino bit into his danish, “thas ruff.”

She winked, “not as ruff as it is for the dog kwami.”

He blinked back at her as he swallowed. “I’m in physical pain now, thanks.”

Shrugging, she laughed, “I learned to cope with pain pretty effectively from you millenials.” 

Nino scoffed, shooting her a wry grin. “Okay, boomer.” 

“I’m gonna punch you!” Marinette yelled.

To their right, the bedroom door opened, revealing Alya in her bathrobe as she tugged a comb through her hair. “Girl, please don’t hurt my idiot.”

Racing back into her purse, Tikki disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only macaron crumbs in her wake. Getting over the way kwamis worked was going to take some time for Nino for sure. Glancing back at Alya as she fought her hair, he could only pray that she hadn’t heard anything they had been talking about. But then, sound tended not to travel well through their apartment, so he wasn’t too worried.

Getting up from the couch, Marinette put down her coffee and went to Alya, giving her a tight hug. “Good morning! I can’t make any guarantees if he deserves it.”

“Good morning,” Alya grinned as she stepped back, their hands still holding one another. “Just don’t mess him up too much. I like him pretty.” She winked over Marinette’s shoulder at him. 

Nino only rolled his eyes as he ate more of his danish.

They let go of one another and walked back to the couch. As they took their seats, Alya grabbed a croissant as Marinette asked, “how are you doing after yesterday?”

Going back to attacking her hair with the comb with her free hand, Alya shrugged. “I mean I'm still a little jittery. Being burned alive has a way of putting things into perspective.”

Marinette nodded as she bit into her tart. “I’m glad you’re doing better at least.”

Nino felt his phone vibrate, and pulled it out to check the message.  
_Sun at 11:45am_  
**Adrien:**  
_Dude! I have something I need to show you! Please  
Come to my place asap!_

Glancing at the other two, Alya and Marinette had both pulled out their phones as they ate, Alya’s comb abandoned in her mane as they scrolled. 

He sent a quick message back. 

__

_ Sun at 11:46am _  
_I’ll come by in a bit. Just got up like an hour ago. See you in  
two hours?_

“No way!” Alya exclaimed, getting all of their attention. 

Nino raised an eyebrow, “yeah, babe?” 

“So,” she looked between Nino and Marinette with a glint in her eye. “Speaking of yesterday. I just found a very interesting article about Ladybug.” 

Rolling her eyes, Marinette glanced back at her phone. “What?” She drawled, “is someone claiming to have exposed her identity again?” 

Tossing her phone in Marinette’s lap, Alya grabbed at her comb. “No, check it out! This woman is calling out Ladybug for causing everything yesterday!”

“What?!” Scrambling to sit up properly, Marinette fumbled with the phone and began scrolling through the article. 

Feeling impatient, Nino whined, “just read it out loud, Nette!”

She shot him a glare but started reading. “It’s titled, ‘Ladybug, Hero or Tyrant?’” Marinette scoffed as she started reading. “We all know that Ladybug is the protector of our city and the one who keeps us safe at night. Doors can go unlocked, and children can play in the streets secure in the knowledge that she will be there to protect us. But apparently the one thing we can’t do, is ask her for that same help that she gives us so freely. 

“The attacks that happened yesterday were awful and some of the worst carnage inflicted on this city in recent memory. And they were stopped by none other than our resident hero and her turtle friend. 

“That’s the story we’re supposed to believe. That our precious Lady in red is keeping us safe from the new boogeyman lurking in the shadows. But do you remember the broadcast that followed those attacks? The one from the man calling himself, Papillon? He told us clear as day why the events that unfolded were made to happen. 

“A sick wife, dying in front of his very eyes. No earthly doctor with all our science and technology is capable of saving her. And so, in their hour of need, he turned to the one person capable of making the difference between her life and death. 

“Did our hero offer the assistance she so desperately needed? Did she come to this citizen in her hour of need to right that which has wronged them so grievously? No. She refused him. And in his grief, he used the power he had to attempt to seize that which he needed to do the work himself. 

“And who can blame him? A soulmate is a precious, nigh irreplaceable person in our lives. Some of us, it takes a lifetime to locate, and once we find them, we never want to let them go. And there is not a thing in this world that we wouldn’t do for them. So why should he be any different?

“I am not belittling the trauma that so many suffered yesterday, nor excusing the actions of a terrorist, not at all. Rather, I am speaking for the man who was the first to be so traumatized by the woman whom we are all supposed to quietly and reverently be thankful to. If you had the means, would you not do the same to do what was needed to save the person you care for most in this world? 

“Many this morning are decrying the man a terrorist of the worst kind, overpowered, and insane. But I ask you, people of Paris, is this the true villain of the story? I believe that if we want to seek the guilty party, we have no further to look than our own rooftops. For if she had offered a helping hand to one in need, we would not now be bracing ourselves for a new series of unexpected attacks. 

“Papillon warned us that this was to be the beginning. That he would seize her miraculous, whatever that may be, by any means. 

“Paris is now being held at the whims of two people who would play god with our lives, because the one whom we have come to trust, would refuse to help one who needs it most. If my article should find her, I would ask our dear Ladybug, give up this gift to Papillon. Trust him, and help him as you have helped so many of us before. 

“Do not make Paris a warzone for your vanity. The people of Paris beg you. If you mean to protect us, then do so by helping this man as you would any of us. Please, be the hero we need you to be. 

“Our lives and our safety depend on it.”

Gaping, Nino found himself almost agreeing with the article. It was actually persuasive, and made a good point. If Ladybug- _Marinette_ \- had helped him in the first place, none of this would be happening. He cleared his throat as he asked, “who uh… who wrote that?”

Tossing the phone back to Alya, Marinette grumbled. “A writer for _Le Monde_ named Lila Rossi.” She seemed to spit the woman’s name out.

Glancing over a few more headlines, Alya nodded. “Yeah, she covers a lot of crime that happens in the city for them. But she has this weird thing for trashing Ladybug for some reason.”

An exasperated look passed over Marinette’s face as Nino glanced at her. “She does?” 

Swallowing the last bite of her croissant, Alya nodded again. “Yeah, she’s written a few opinion pieces here and there through the years about how we should be wary of someone hiding behind a mask. Basically being her Jay Jonah Jameson, but…” she shrugged, “this is the first time I’ve ever seen one of her Ladybug opinions featured on the front page.” Locking her phone, she renewed her struggle with her hair. She muttered, “I mean, she kinda has a point though.”

Marinette squinted at her, “uh… Jay Jonah Jameson?” 

Alya laughed, “he’s this newspaper editor that has it out for Spiderman in the comics and always tries to make him look bad.”

“Oh… fantastic,” Marinette muttered. 

“Yeah, it’s something to think about, I guess.” Alya shrugged as she jumped up from the couch. “Well, I’m about done fighting my hair, so I’m going to jump in the shower really quick.” She leaned over the coffee table, and Nino rose to give her a quick peck on the lips before sitting back down. “Don’t finish the food without me!” She raced off to the bathroom. As the door shut behind her, Alya yelled back, “and make more coffee!”

Marinette and Nino waited, munching on pastries until they heard the water start running. Suddenly, she sat forward, asking in a fierce whisper, “you _know_ that's bullshit, right?"

Technically, the article made a really good point. If Ladybug had just done what needed to be done, Paris wouldn’t be in danger. But then, Papillon basically threw a temper tantrum when he didn’t get what he wanted. And Nino knew what he’d asked of her. There was no way he should have gotten it. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Of course, Nette. But…” he shrugged. 

She practically hissed, “but, _what_?!” 

“Well…” he considered his next words carefully. “You have to convince the rest of Paris. Not me.”

He could see Marinette worry her cheek. “Yeah…” She glanced at the door to the bathroom, “hopefully I can end this before people start hating me too much.” 

…

* * *

…

After reading the article, Marinette had spent the majority of the time Nino was still home in contemplative silence. He’d finally gotten ready to go see Adrien once Alya had gotten out of the shower, hoping that his girlfriend could keep Marinette from a self destructive spiral for the rest of the day. 

Standing on the front porch of Adrien’s townhouse, he knocked. What was so important that NIno just _had_ to come by as soon as possible?

The door opened slowly revealing… no one. 

Staring into the foyer, he could see through the hallway directly into the living room. To the left, he could see the top of the staircase from where it ascended just beyond the door. Nino glanced left and right. “Uh… Adrien?” 

From somewhere toward the back of the house, his friend’s voice carried, “Come on in, Nino! I’m back here!”

“Uh…” He glanced back at the door, wondering how the hell he did that. “Okay?” Stepping inside, just past the door, Nino turned to close it, only to find it clicking shut behind him. He muttered, “what the hell?”

Looking back up the hallway, Nino shouted, “are you messing with me right now?” 

From the living room, he could hear muffled laughter. “Kinda,” Adrien called back. “Come here!”

Rolling his eyes, Nino walked into the room to find Adrien with his feet kicked up on the coffee table, a smoothie in one hand, and a nonchalant grin on his face. “Afternoon.” 

“Yeah…” Nino eyed him warily, feeling like his friend was just a little too relaxed for his comfort. 

Smiling, Adrien pointed to the glass in his hand, “smoothie?” 

“No,” Nino narrowed his eyes, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I’m good.” 

Shrugging, Adrien took a large drink and set the glass on a coaster with a satisfied sigh. “Dude, you can sit down.” He grinned, “I’m not going to jumpscare you.” 

Eyes traveling around the room as he made his way to the opposite side of the couch, Nino finally looked back at him. “Okay, so why did you want me to come over so urgently? You seem pretty relaxed.” 

He shrugged again, his face pulling that innocent look he was so good at. “Maybe I just wanted to see my bestfriend? Play some video games? Kick it like we haven’t gotten to in weeks?”

Cocking an eyebrow, Nino couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that. “You’re being really weird about it if that’s the case.”

“Well,” Adrien gave coy smile, “maybe there’s something I wanted your opinion on?”

Pulling a leg up underneath himself, Nino turned to properly face Adrien across the couch. “Shoot then.”

His fingers played with the hem of his t-shirt as Adrien started. “Well…” he looked down at his hands, “I was kinda thinking about asking Marinette out.” He glanced back at Nino out of the corner of his eye. “What do you think?”

“Uh…” Was that really all? Nino shrugged, “I mean, go for it, dude. You already know you both are into each other.” He raised an eyebrow, “why the big fuss?”

“We-ll,” he drew the word out far longer than was necessary. Adrien popped his lips nervously, “look, what I’m about to tell you, you can’t tell anyone, okay?” He finally met Nino’s eye. “Not even Alya.” 

“Dude,” Nino deadpanned, “you’re being weird again.” He shrugged, “but yeah, you know you can trust me.”

“Okay,” he let out a long breath between tight lips. “Yesterday, I was kind of given something that would put anyone I was with in danger if anyone found out about it.” His eyes roamed around the room, “and I don’t want to put her in harm’s way because I’m feeling impulsive after almost dying.”

Nino scoffed, “what, did you buy an illegal gun or something?” That would certainly be impulsive, even for Adrien. And his friend was especially known for his impulsivity after the repressed childhood he’d had.

Heading bobbing back and forth like a metronome, Adrien smiled nervously. “It might be easier if I just show you.”

“Show me-?” Before he finished, Adrien spoke. 

“Plagg, transform me!” 

A voice yelled from behind the couch before being cut off, “Adrien you-!”

There was a bright green flash, and Adrien stood on the couch cushion, his hands on his hips in a dramatic pose, clad in a black leather bodysuit. On his head was a pair of ears that seemed to be a part of him, and a black belt hung from his waist, twitching like a real cat’s tail.

Nino didn’t blink. His expression didn’t budge. He barely even breathed. Inside, he was screaming. 

“Nino?” Adrien stared back at him from behind the black domino mask that reminded him so much of Ladybug’s and his own. 

He groaned, the corner of his eye twitching, “yeah, Adrien?”

“You’re surprised,” he rubbed the back of his head nervously, dropping to sit cross legged on the cushion beneath him. “I get it. It’s a lot to take in.” He held out clawed, gloved, hands urgently. “But I had to tell, _someone_ about this! It’s huge! And,” he shrugged, smiling sheepishly, “I trust you.”

Nino muttered, “I know you do, dude.” He sighed, his brain feeling like it was going to explode. “You can count on me,” he heard himself say.

What else _was_ there to say? Both of his best friends were superheroes. More than that, they were going to be partners. Partners who wanted to date one another, but had multiple hangups about it. And worst of all, he wasn’t sure if it would be wise to tell even Marinette about this one. Did she want to know her partner’s identity? 

This was fine. 

It was going to be fine. 

Once he found some time to scream himself hoarse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so yeah. Reading back through this during editing I… am not a big fan of how I wrote this. What I wanted to happen, happened. But… Idk, I want it to have happened differently. Nino and Adrien’s dynamic didn’t come through well to me, and the thing with Nino and Alya seemed pretty rushed at the end of the first section. *sigh* Hopefully I’m just being hypercritical as usual and you guys don’t hate it at least. 
> 
> I think I’ve said I hate almost every chapter so far though xD I barely had time to write this week so it was all a little rushed, and being sick on top of it made it that much harder. 
> 
> But anyway! How do you feel about Adrien jumping the gun and revealing to Nino? I kinda think that adult Adrien, after how he was raised, would be very impulsive and have a hard time with self-control when it came to big decisions. 
> 
> Oh, and Alya starting to look into Ladybug’s past? She’s not going to be dropping this thread any time soon, that’s for sure ;D 
> 
> How about that Lila article? She definitely had some solid points! I know a bunch of you have speculations on how she’s going to play a part in this story. Got any new theories based on that? I’d love to hear them! :D
> 
> Or just your theories about where this story is headed in general lol I’m really curious how you all think this is going to play out. 
> 
> So, fingers crossed that my son makes a speedy recovery and allows me time to write, and I stop being a congested mess and have a functioning brain! Because I would love to write something I don’t loathe xD Like that’ll ever happen ;P 
> 
> Next week, Marinette is nervous for her first day at work, Papillon isn’t messing around, Bunnyx makes an appearance, and Chat Noir finally gets to meet his lady!
> 
> Hopefully this chapter didn’t drive you guys away, and I’ll see you either next week or roasting my terrible writing in the comments like I deserve! ^.~ Bye!! <3


	9. Of Revelation and Deception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pandemic everybody! :D
> 
> I’m back ya’ll!
> 
> Thank you all so much for hanging around and for the comments you left on my little apology post <3 You’re all so sweet and I really appreciate your patience! I almost didn't have the heart to delete it because you were all so sweet and I didn't want to get rid of your wonderful comments D: But! Because it has no plot relevance and I hated how it threw off my plotted chapter count, it's gone! :P But it made me sad to do it because I’ll lost your wonderful comments and you’re all so fucking sweet omg <3
> 
> I meant to reply to them, but I figured I would put the time into writing instead. I’m already really behind on replying to comments anyways, so I figured writing would be a better use of my time since I’m behind on that too lol
> 
> But, thank you so much, Keka_Spider, Miabelles(MiaBelles), TheBluejay, Krispo, Yuna21, adrienvagus, Ima_reader_not_a_writer, LadyKae, Minsie2000, fabulously_frenzied, PawdreyHepburn, AwesomeLyss, sheepheadfred, Aversiya, Trakn, and Dibblefoddling!
> 
> You’re all so kind and I really appreciate you leaving the comments you did <3 While I know I don’t get paid to write fanfic, writing at all is definitely a big stress reliever for me, and doing it is kinda therapeutic. So… not being able to? 
> 
> Stressful!!!
> 
> Plus I was starting to get a little anxious about it as the fatigue became writer’s block. I ended up letting my brain completely turn off and just play a lot of Skyrim and Borderlands the Presequel ^.^; Pulling myself back from that brink definitely got difficult lol I was even falling asleep playing those tbh ;P but I fall asleep on accident a lot if I get too comfortable so, no surprise there. 
> 
> Writing (and running pre lockdown times :P) is seriously a solace at the end of the day and really isn’t work, I promise! I love doing it ^.^ and knowing other people are enjoying it is just an extra fun bonus! 
> 
> Oh yeah, and I also made a fuckton of bread lol
> 
> But I know you’re all wondering, and to answer the question, NO! I am no better rested than I was before because my kid was sick A G A I N for the third time since January @.@ My wife and I at least didn’t get it this time. But holy shit the kid just… wouldn’t sleep. All last week he woke up once or twice a night and screamed for a half hour at least each time T.T
> 
> But that was just on top of the (mostly) stay-at-home mom gig of laundry, dishes, cleaning, changing, feeding, nap times, cooking, dealing with the chickens, play times, grocery shopping, and whatever else my day throws at me. Thankfully my wife just finished with her finals, and we’re both off of work for the moment because of coronavirus fun times. So that's cool! 
> 
> Thanks, you viral, contagious, bastard <3
> 
> Actually, funny story! We’ve compared our symptoms from the first time we were all majorly ill, and we’re like 95% certain we’ve already had Coronavirus! And we did it before it was cool :P But yeah… we all felt like we were dying lol like on top of the other symptoms, the worst was we all had serious trouble breathing. We both would wake up in the middle of the night to prop ourselves up and change position because we literally couldn’t breath o.o omg and we would wake up more on top of that somehow and check on Leon to make sure HE was still breathing. It was… not fun. But yeah… we think we had it… like three weeks before the U.S. had any confirmed cases… Dope af, right?!
> 
> But, I digress.
> 
> So, I was reading my story, trying to get myself back in the groove, as you do. Or… maybe that’s just me?
> 
> But, I was looking back over chapter 8, when I realized the end of the middle section got messed up somehow when I was copying it and I lost a small section that… probably would have helped it make sense. If you were confused about the end after Alya ran to jump in the shower, go give that part a quick read again, because I fixed it lol Like I said. I was SUPER out of it ^.^; probably with Coronavirus! :D
> 
> This chapter is by far the longest one at over 12k words! I didn’t want to, but in order to get this chapter out, I actually cut off the final section. So that will be its own chapter after this one, and will end up getting the coverage it deserves, next week! Plus a part of it will blend with what was chapter 10, and take a bit of pressure off of that one as far as plotting goes. It might be a little shorter than average, but it’ll be a good way to ease myself back into mass writing (I said as an excuse in case the chapter ends up significantly shorter >.>). Then chapter 10 will become 11 and we will proceed at our regularly scheduled pace from there :P 
> 
> So! Without further ado (Because, OH how I could ramble further! ;P), here’s the long awaited extra long chapter deluxe with a side of angst! 
> 
> Enjoy <3

Staring intently into his bedroom mirror, Adrien undid his tie for the third time, unsatisfied with how his knot looked. Behind him, Plagg lounged on the corner of the bed, watching with a small smirk. 

“Are you always so fidgety?”

He let out an annoyed groan at the kwami as he dropped the length of the tie through his loop. “Not usually,” Adrien mumbled, avoiding his eye. He was trying not to think about how much time he would be spending with Marinette today, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to look perfect, but kept finding fault with every little thing. 

His hair wouldn’t lay just right. The product he had put in it was too shiny. His button-up was just slightly the wrong shade to go with his blazer. His stomach felt bloated, and he was nervous, and worried about stumbling over his words while trying to maintain professionalism. 

And above all, the _goddamn tie_ just looked _wrong_!

Rising from the bed, Plagg came to hover over his shoulder, his head cocked. “I don’t understand why you humans think hanging a wide strip of cloth from your necks is professional.” 

Adrien stared at the knot he had made. Technically, it looked fine, but he wanted to redo it again. “It’s about drawing the eye, giving your outfit a pop of color, and creating a symmetrical line to double as a simple but strong accessory.” He shrugged, forcing himself to look away from the mirror. “Plus they look good.” 

The kwami raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I’ve heard they’re to keep your mind on work like a slave collar and that loosening it at the end of the day symbolises freedom.” He raised an arm and wiped a small amount of fuzz from the fabric, “not to mention I’ve seen people accidentally hang themselves with them.” 

“Morbid,” Adrien deadpanned. Walking around his kwami, he grabbed his suit jacket from where it was sat neatly at the bed’s edge. “Come on, it’s about time to go.” 

“Oh sure,” Plagg sounded annoyed as he walked toward the living room, the kwami trailing after him. “You can follow the rules of your job, but you just _have_ to tell Mr. DJ about your secret identity.”

Adrien groaned, “I know you didn’t think it was a good idea, but I just needed someone I could be honest with about it.” Entering the kitchen, he grabbed a banana from the counter and opened the fridge. “He’s my best friend, and I trust him.” 

A part of him knew that telling Nino probably wasn’t the wisest choice, but he couldn’t help it. There was no way he could just keep something this big a complete secret. Trying to carry that pressure would have driven him crazy, and not having anyone but Plagg to talk about it with would only make it worse. Much as he liked his kwami, it wasn’t like talking to his new secret friend about his secret life would really be all that relieving. No one he had known quite put him at ease the way Nino did, and he trusted him more than anyone. 

Granted, Luka probably would have been a good choice as well, but it wasn’t like they saw one another much these days. Aside from the occasional gig he played with Kitty Section, the two hadn’t maintained their friendship very well. And Adrien would have felt like a dick if he were just using Luka to bitch about his alter-ego and how hard it was being a superhero. 

In theory at least. Not that he actually had any of those things to complain about. But if and when they came up, he felt like Nino just made sense to know the truth. As weird as Nino had acted about telling him, a part of him really didn’t seem all that surprised, and it was one more reason he was glad he’d told him. 

Adrien really didn’t understand what the big deal was about him knowing. It was already done, and Plagg trying to pound it into his head that it was a bad idea wasn’t going to change that. And once everything had settled down, Plagg and Nino had actually had a great time! The three of them had just chilled out and ordered pizza and Plagg told them stories about the past black cat holders. He’d seemed annoyed for a little while, but Adrien had thought he was over it after sucking down two slices of pizza.

He could feel Plagg just over his shoulder, his tone still sounding irked. “This is only the third day you’ve had your miraculous, Adrien. The only person I’ve ever seen my holders reveal themselves so quickly to was Ladybug! And she doesn’t even like doing that anymore.” He opened his mouth to go on, but stopped as Adrien held up a wedge of brie over his shoulder. 

The cheese left his hand and there was blessed quiet as he grabbed for raspberries and soy milk. They had talked about this a couple of times now, and much as Plagg seemed to be a very relaxed… person… he seemed nervous about this. It made sense, given that the majority of black cats, according to the kwami, rarely ever told anyone who wasn’t a miraculous wielder about their identity. But Adrien knew enough not to go blabbing to every person he saw.

He shut the fridge and turned to the island, putting his ingredients down. Adrien was silently thankful that cheese seemed to keep the kwami quiet. The little cat had an incredible weakness for the stuff, which he could not even begin to understand. 

Letting out a small sigh of contentment, Plagg sat down on the counter. “I get wanting to tell people, but you need to take this a little ser-”

Adrien cut him off with a roll of his eyes, saying, “keep talking about it and I’m not getting you more of that camembert you loved so much.” He had greedily devoured the half of a wheel that Adrien had left in the fridge over the weekend. 

Crossing his little arms, Plagg huffed and spun himself to look away from Adrien. From over his shoulder he asked dejectedly, “you’ll still bring some cheese with us today, right?”

He grabbed a jar of peanut butter, plugged in his blender, and threw in the berries, banana, milk, peanut butter, and a small squirt of honey. “Do you really need to come with me to work?”

Waiting until the blender had pulsed, Plagg said, “you never know when crazies like this Butterfly wielder will strike. Face it kid, we’re going to get really close.” 

While he was fine with having Plagg with him all day, Adrien wasn’t so crazy about keeping cheese in his jacket pocket in the summer. He couldn’t quite keep the worry from his voice. “Am I really going to be ready if I need to transform today?” Confident as he was that he could use the staff that came with his transformation, being a superhero seemed like something he would need to get used to before jumping into it. 

“You’ll be fine.” Plagg came to float next to the blender as Adrien poured the mixture into his tumbler. “Practice helps, but there’s a certain amount of instinctive memory that comes with the transformation too.” 

He turned to rinse the blender. “You mean… the past wielders memories are imprinted on you?” 

“More or less,” Plagg nodded, as he rolled lazily in the air. “You all leave a mark on me kinda like a memory and each new wielder builds on the last while inheriting a bit of the fighting ability of their predecessors.” 

Adrien eyed his kwami, trying to think back to how being transformed felt, but it seemed like it was just him in the suit. “I didn’t feel anything though.”

Stopping upside down, Plagg suddenly poked one of his arms toward Adrien’s eye. As he flinched away, his eye flickering shut, the kwami explained, “it works more like that. It’s a reflex.” There was a small smirk on his face like he’d enjoyed that just a little too much. “You don’t hear them or feel them, but when you need the ability, they’ll come to you as naturally as breathing.”

With the lid secured, Adrien took a drink of his smoothie and grabbed for a plastic baggie from a drawer. “If you say so,” he muttered. He couldn’t help but not feel as sure as the little kwami did. But then, he had told Adrien that he’d been around since shortly after the creation of the universe, so he probably knew what he was talking about. 

Shoving a third of the wheel of brie into the baggie, Adrien tucked the bag into the inner pocket of his blazer with a small grimace. Maybe someday he would get used to the feeling of cheese resting against his chest, but for now, it just felt uncomfortable. He prayed he didn’t accidentally squish it at any point in the day. Having to get soft cheese cleaned from the inside of his suits would carry a humiliating story he’d inevitably have to invent, and he wasn’t ready for that. 

He held open the opposite side of his blazer where the other free inner pocket was. “Here’s your ride, Plagg.” 

The kwami shot him a cynical look as he stopped at his lapel. “You wear deodorant, right? Cause my last wielder went through a phase of not wearing it and… well let’s say I’m not eager to relive the first ten and a half thousand years of history again.”

Adrien smirked, “yes, I wear deodorant, now let’s go.” 

Once Plagg was safely sitting in his pocket, he gathered his bag and keys and slipped on his loafers to head out the door. 

These days, Adrien drove himself to work. Once he turned eighteen, he had quit using the driver that his parents had so vehemently insisted upon. Driving had been an essential part of growing up that he had missed out on and he had insisted on being able to do so as an adult. Either that or he was walking, since his parents had also kept him from doing that. 

By the time Adrien got to work, he had finished his smoothie, and Plagg was snoozing in his jacket pocket. Getting up to his office he dropped his keys three times, nervous for the exciting morning of paperwork he would spend with Marinette. His father had insisted that Adrien walk her through the hiring process so that he could oversee the work being done for Fashion Week in the fall. Once they were finished, he would bring Marinette to join them so that she could become familiarized with the department. 

With his hand on the door to his office, a voice from behind him made him jump. “Good morning Adrien.” 

He turned to find Nathalie tapping away on her tablet, her hawkish gaze focused on her work already. Bracing himself for talking with her he gave his best forced smile, “hello, Nathalie. What do you have for me?” Their relationship was strained at best, and no matter how much time they had spent together, the two of them had never been close. And the woman’s relationship with his parents had never made it easier for him. 

As if his (arguably nonexistent) childhood hadn’t been unorthodox enough. 

Glancing at him from over her glasses, her expression didn’t move as she spoke. “I’ve sent you documents regarding Miss Dupain-Cheng’s employment which you should review prior to her arrival.” She made a final tap and brought the tablet to her chest, her attention focusing on him entirely. “She should be here within the hour, so that should be your top priority. Be sure to print the paperwork you need for when she arrives. Your father would like her to start as soon as possible.” 

He gave a quick thumbs up, “will do!” Maybe he could have been a little less enthusiastic though. The raised eyebrow she gave in return told him as much. “Uh… Anything else, Nathalie?”

“Well,” she cleared her throat, her eyes distractedly looking over his shoulders. 

Was she nervous? Adrien had never seen her nervous before, but this was typically what it looked like on other people. Just… to a less obvious degree, usually.

“I was wondering if maybe we could get together some time and…” With a deep breath, she met his eyes again. “And talk? I know our situation always made you a little uncomfortable when you were younger. But losing Emilie has made me want to revisit our relationship.”

Now? 

Adrien did his best to keep the surprise from his face. “Oh.” He blinked, “uh… yeah. Yeah definitely.” He nodded, wondering in the back of his mind what he should be doing with his hands. “I’d like that. I’m sorry I never exactly gave you a fair chance when I was little.” Should he hug her? This was… uncomfortable. But then, he couldn’t imagine that Nathalie or Gabriel were in a much better place about it. 

With a small sigh of relief, she nodded. “Good. And don’t be sorry.” She looked sheepishly toward the floor. “I never meant to invade your life like I did, but…” Nathalie trailed off, a wistful smile on her face. Suddenly, she shook her head, her tone professional once again. “Anyway, I’ll check my schedule and email you about a time we should get together. In the meantime, Ms. Dupain-Cheng will arrive soon.” She turned on her toe and was once again looking at her tablet, her heels tapping away from him. “And don’t forget to look over those documents,” she called over her shoulder. 

As she turned the corner and walked out of sight, Adrien groaned. The last person he wanted to spend time with was Nathalie. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he turned and opened the door to his office. 

Looking around as he walked to his desk, a part of him couldn’t help but feel jealous of his father’s ridiculously opulent office. For a second, he caught himself wondering if Marinette would still be impressed with his, before remembering that it shouldn’t matter. 

And it definitely didn’t! 

But still…?

Much smaller than his father’s nearly half the top floor, Adrien occupied a much more modest, though still substantial corner office a couple of floors below. It was a quarter the size of his father’s, with two walls made up of windows, the other two the same faux marbled interior as the rest of the building. There were a couple of bookshelves, a liquor cabinet, and a large flatscreen built into the walls, and a small lounge was set a foot below the floor level by the entrance. There was a coffee table in it’s center that was set on top of an electric fireplace which cast a red glow about the office in the evenings. 

His desk sat centered and opposite the double doors with two armchairs that were probably less comfortable than they could have been facing it. Around the room there were potted plants and modern art statues that a decorator had picked out and insisted pulled the room together. Adrien’s one personal touch was a framed ‘Kitty Section’ poster that was on the wall over the lounge from when he had toured with them. 

Overall, he really didn’t like the space. It was good to work in, and he had plenty of room, but the windows always made it just a little too cold, no matter how high he had the heat. The lights, even using the dimmers, were just a little too bright, none of the chairs were especially comfortable, and he never really felt like he could touch anything. In fact the only redeeming feature of the office was that he had his own private bathroom with a shower in case he stayed too late to go home. He even kept one of his favorite blankets in the bottom left drawer of his desk in the event he decided to sleep in his office, just to make himself feel a little more at home. 

Sitting down at his desk, Adrien jiggled his mouse and woke his computer up. His background, a picture of Ladybug standing in the iron beams of the Eiffel Tower with one hand gripping the crossbar above her head, came to life. Seeing that image now, after having been given the Black Cat, nearly made his heart stop. 

He was going to be her partner. It didn’t even seem real. Even with a tiny godlike figure napping in one pocket and the little creature’s food of choice steadily warming against his chest in the other. 

A part of him felt like he should change the background, but he quickly quieted it, rationalizing that, while Adrien Agreste might have a strong crush on Ladybug, Chat Noir would… well… be Adrien. Dressed as a cat. But she wouldn’t _know_ that! And besides, it was just a harmless celebrity crush. 

He opened his web browser and found his way into his email after a few clicks. There at the top was the file that Nathalie had sent him. Adrien clicked to download it, and went to sift through his ‘Documents’ folder to find the new hire forms. While they printed, he opened the file that Nathalie had sent him. 

While the decision was already made that she would be working with them, it was typical for him to make a final review of any upper management personnel’s background check, and breaking the habit for Marinette felt strange. Glancing at the first major section, he saw that her list of previous addresses was long. He scrolled a little bit, and the double columned list kept going. 

It was _really_ long. 

There were dozens of countries listed. By the look of it, she had steadily made her way from France, through Africa, into Asia, down to Australia, and then into the America’s. He couldn’t help but be impressed, if only because he couldn’t imagine how she spent so much time abroad. All of the addresses listed would have meant that she wouldn’t have spent more than a couple of months in each place, if they were the same age!

Beneath her previous addresses, there was a list of degrees from Universities from several of the countries listed. His assessment of her age suddenly shifted as he counted twelve degrees and several minor and major combinations, each of which had to be at least four years apiece. 

Letting out a long breath, he was about to get up to go get the forms from the print tray when the words, ‘Military Profile’ caught his eye. Looking back at his screen, he read it again and reached for his mouse.

Marinette had been in the military? As surprising as that fact seemed, he supposed it explained why she was in such good shape. Still, she seemed so sweet, he never would have guessed! 

A few lines down he found the dates she was active and he gasped in surprise. Nineteen forty to Nineteen Sixty-five? Scrolling back up to the first couple of lines of text, he found her birth date was listed as Nineteen eighteen. 

Sitting back in his chair, Adrien sat in shocked silence, blinking as he tried to process exactly how old Marinette really was. She’d never said anything that made him think she was any older than him, but… He suddenly felt like a fool, sitting across from someone over seventy years older than him, trying to stop himself from flirting with her as much as he wanted to. She must have thought he was a stupid little kid! 

Grabbing his mouse, he scrolled further. Reading through her summarized military career raised more questions in his mind than he could count. A memory of her bathed in moonlight, her teeth pulling gently at her lip rose in his mind as he read, and he remembered Alya saying that Marinette was interested in him too. 

Suddenly, asking her on a date seemed like a bad idea. What could he offer someone who had lived as long as she had? Sure they could be friends but, she would find him so dull and boring once she got to know him! Marinette had seen and done so much with her life and he… well… he’d let his parent’s boss him around and control him for the majority of his life. 

Fuck… it suddenly hit him that he had wasted his life. Especially when compared to Marinette’s! By the time she was his age, she was already a well educated immigrant, a decorated soldier, ridiculously well traveled, and had built a life for herself. 

He could barely bring himself to look up from his computer screen as a knock sounded at the door. Adrien called across the room, “come in!”

The door opened and closed as he read. Just as he scrolled down, reading the words, ‘Criminal Record’, a voice that made his heart skip sounded. 

“Good morning, M. Agreste.” 

Jumping in his seat he turned wide eyes on Marinette as she stood on the opposite side of his desk. She wore a plain white button-down with a narrow black tie hugging her throat and a black pencil skirt with sheer black tights. Her hair was up in a professional bun with the sides freshly sheared once again, and her makeup was understated as it had been when they’d gone to dinner. 

She looked _way_ too good to be as old as she was. 

A smile tugged at her lips, and she raised an eyebrow as she asked, “am I interrupting something?” 

Why did he suddenly feel like a child caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing? “Uh-” he gulped, clearing his throat. “Not at all!” He did his best to return her smile. “Good morning, Marinette.” This was no big deal. He could do this. 

Looking into her gorgeous brown eyes as they sparkled in the fluorescent lights, he couldn't begin to fathom how such a seemingly sweet person had killed people. But he knew for certain she had. There were combat medals and citations listed in the report. 

Adrien pointed to the chairs behind her, "pick a seat, and we'll get started!" With a quick forced smile he pointed to the printer, "just gotta grab your paperwork." 

As she seated herself, she turned to look around his office and the ridiculous fear that she would think less of him for it popped up again.

While he walked to the printer she commented with a sly grin, "your office is much smaller than your father's."

With the papers in hand, he returned to his desk. Ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut, Adrien nodded, "we coordinated our offices to the size of our egos."

A grin tugged at her lips as she shot him a raised eyebrow. "Didn’t realize you thought so much of yourself.” 

“Ah-” he couldn’t help but laugh as he looked down at the papers in his hand. “I guess I walked right into that one.” His office _was_ several times larger than what an average office would be. 

As their eyes met again, suddenly he was back in that strange apartment, their arms wrapped around one another, and remembered the relief he had felt at seeing her safe. If he thought about that moment, he _knew_ there was something between them, regardless of her age. There was something there… 

Their eyes stayed locked for several seconds before Marinette blinked. “Umm…” She pointed to the stack in his hands, “I-I think those are for me?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Adrien handed her the papers with a sheepish smile while finding the top of his desk very interesting all of a sudden. “Yeah! Here you go!” He cleared his throat, and glanced at her again. Noticing she was still looking at him, he looked away back at his computer, the words, ‘Criminal Record’ meeting his eyes once again. 

“Adrien?” She said his name gently, almost like she was afraid she would break it if she said it too loudly. 

Looking back at her, he did his best to relax. “Hmm?” 

She mimed writing with her right hand, “could I have a pen?” 

“Oh, duh!” Adrien chuckled nervously, “let’s see…” He rifled through his drawers for a moment before pulling out a pen. He uncapped it and handed it over, “fresh from the pen vines!” 

Taking the end furthest from his fingers, Marinette grasped it and looked at it closely. “Funny…” She squinted, poking the plastic end with her other hand, “I always thought they came from trees.” 

A sudden snort of laughter came from Adrien, helping to ease the growing awkward tension between them. He raised a hand to his mouth to cover the outburst and, once it had passed, he grinned at her. “Mme., as your boss, I’m going to have to ask you to get started. You’re on company time now.” 

She beamed at him for a moment before replying with a small nod, “yes, M. Agreste.” 

Their eyes locked again for a moment and a small comfortable smile tugged at both their mouths before they both suddenly turned to their respective tasks. 

Adrien turned his attention back to the computer screen, almost feeling nervous as he grabbed his mouse. As her friend, it felt like an invasion of her privacy to be looking at this report. But that raised the question…

Were they friends? They were co-workers, sure. He was definitely her boss, and yeah they had friends in common… but they had never spoken for anything but professional reasons.

Sure, the vibe between them was getting increasingly friendly, and they had talked about more than just work when they did, but that was normal right? You get to know the people you work in close proximity with. As much as he wanted them to be, they really _weren’t_ friends. And while he wanted it… did she? It wasn’t like he had much to bring to the table other than the complex of being a lonely, anxious, socially awkward, rich boy with clinical depression who was taking over the family fashion empire. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn’t want much to do with himself. 

Trying to push the thought aside, he did his best to get in the mindset of being her boss as he scrolled down. 

Her criminal record surprised him more than he would have liked to admit. From nineteen eighty three to nineteen ninety nine, Marinette had spent a total of fours years in prison on several small stints. There were dozens of misdemeanors and almost three years worth of community service altogether that she’d had to serve. 

There were charges of assaulting both police and citizens, grand theft auto, public intoxication, charges of arson, vandalism, breaking and entering, and numerous counts of possession of narcotics and other intoxicating substances. One of her last convictions had offered reduced jail time for attendance of both narcotics and alcoholics anonymous. 

Suddenly, the panic in her eyes when he’d asked to split a bottle of wine at dinner made sense. She was an addict scared to relapse.

Shooting a glance at her, it was hard to see how someone so intelligent, talented, kind, graceous, and _sensitive_ , could have such a past. But then, he supposed that was why you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. And Marinette’s book was long, and complicated to say the least. 

What surprised him most though was that, reading all of this about her, didn’t change how he felt. He liked talking with her, and if anything, was only more interested in doing so now. But he wanted to do it on her terms. Knowing all of this… it felt like an invasion of her privacy. None of this was probably easy for her to talk about, and it would take time for her to open up to him about it. But he wanted her to be able to.

That is, if she chose to. 

She’d said that not even Nino and Alya knew about her parents… so that raised the question of how much they knew about her. 

As the scratch of pen on paper filled the office, their occasional furtive glances when the other wasn’t looking was their only interaction for most of the hour she spent filling out the forms. 

All the while, Adrien couldn’t help but wonder. How private a person was Marinette Dupain-Cheng?

...

* * *

…

That evening, the television flickered in front of Marinette as she watched the playback from only a couple of hours ago of herself on the news. Ladybug addressed the crowd from behind a podium, several microphones mounted on its surface as she spoke. 

“...despite my offers to help him, he demanded that which would only serve to make him more dangerous.” She looked out over the assembled reporters, hanging on her every word, and waiting to twist them against her. “So yes, I refused to help him. In reply, he chose to endanger all of Paris because I would not give him what he wanted, regardless of the fact that I told him how I could help.”

Hands shot up, but Ladybug looked directly into the camera, ignoring them. “These are the actions of a terrorist, first and foremost. I, like our government, will not give in to the demands of terrorists, especially when their demands would make them more of a threat than they already are. And I will do everything in my power to keep the people of Paris safe as I always have.”

More hands shot up, and she shifted her gaze to the journalists spread before her. She nodded to a man near the middle of the crowd. “Yes?”

He glanced at his notes as he spoke, “in Papillon’s message to the city, he mentioned he would, quote, ‘acquire her ‘Miraculous’ to save my wife’. Can you tell us what he meant by that?”

Nodding in reply, Ladybug answered, “the Miraculous is the magic jewel which gives Papillon, myself, and my former partner Shadow Cat our powers. With them, we are able to do what we do. Mine,” she pointed to her ear and one of her earrings, “when combined with that of the Black Cat are capable of working great wonders or terrible devastation.” 

Her eyes met the camera, her tone grave. “This is the power that Papillon would wield to save his wife. He could very well be telling the truth, and would return them to me when he was done.” She shook her head, “but it is just as likely that he could cause wanton chaos the likes of which would make nuclear destruction seem a blessing. It is for this reason I would not willingly give up my Miraculous. I will not hand over that kind of power to anyone, nor would I wield the power of the Black Cat myself. It is too great a power to be wielded frivolously when there are other options, such as the ones I gave to him.”

Several hands flew up again as she finished, and she pointed to a woman in a fitted blue suit at the right side. “Ladybug, can you tell us about the man Papillon possessed and how you plan to stop him if he is able to work remotely through these thralls?” 

With an annoyed growl, Marinette pressed the power button, turning off the television. The conference had quickly gone downhill from there, her vague answer on how she would find him only drew skepticism from the vultures around her, and they had pressed her until she admitted she was not yet certain. Papillon’s attempt to play the victim, for the moment, seemed to have earned him some points with the media, and they were all but ready to ask that she give in to his requests. 

“Well,” Tom said from the other side of the couch. “I for one think you made the right decision. You’re a fantastic protector of this city and things would be a lot worse off if not for you.” 

She rolled her eyes, “you’re a little biased, Tom.” 

Next to her, Sabine tapped Marinette’s knee with the back of her hand. “Give yourself some credit, Marinette.”

Tikki piped up from her shoulder, “don’t drag yourself down, Marinette. No one could have kept his akuma from doing more damage as quickly as you did.” 

Scoffing, she rolled her eyes again. “My own mental issues got in the way. Someone else could have stopped him a lot quicker and with a lot less casualties.”

“Don’t you think you’re being at least a little hard on yourself?” Tom quirked his mustache, “all of those people are still alive because of you.” He leaned forward, offering Tikki a smile, “and you, of course.” 

While Tikki beamed, Marinette rolled her eyes. Sure, maybe she should give herself some credit for having stopped _this_ akuma. But what about the next one? Or the one after that? If each of them had the same effect on her as this one… 

For the millionth time since Saturday, she desperately wished she had a partner at her side. 

Marinette put on her best conciliatory smile and looked back at Tom with a shrug. “I guess I did okay.” She had sketches she had to get started on for her own portion of the fall Fashion Week showing, and she really didn’t have time for this conversation. Once she had finished with her paperwork, Gabriel had kept her busy for the remainder of the day. Between going over trends for the season, looking over works in progress, picking color pallets, and doing rough sketches for a new line, they hadn’t even broken for lunch. Instead, Gabriel had ordered in. She’d spent most of the day in his office with Nathalie quietly hovering close by.

From her shoulder, Tikki turned to look at her skeptically, but didn’t say anything. Marinette already knew that she would say something about it to her later, but it didn’t matter. The simple fact of the matter was, this was Marinette’s fault, and it would continue to be until she found and stopped Papillon. 

In the back of her mind, she saw the article Alya had shown her again, and couldn’t help but agree with it. People died, and would continue dying because she couldn’t do anything to stop him if she couldn’t find him. 

“Well,” Marinette rose from the couch. “I have work I need to start on.” She turned toward the ladder to her room and as she climbed the rungs, Sabine called after her. 

“You know you can talk to us if you need, right?” 

Looking over her shoulder, she was met with both Tom and Sabine watching her go, concern clear on their faces. Knowing that they were there for her, that no matter what they were on her side and she could count on them… this was what real parents did for their children, wasn't it?

The thought dragged a genuine smile out of her and she nodded as she felt her cheeks turn red. "I know." Glancing back up at the trapdoor, Marinette sighed. "I just forget sometimes." She closed her eyes and dropped her forehead to rest against one of the rungs, "thank you." 

Tom's voice, kind and filled with warmth as ever, replied, "of course, Marinette. Whenever you need us."

Sparing her not-parents one last look, she laughed. "I'll probably be back in a bit to bitch about work if you're still up."

Tom winked at his wife, “well, I will be. It’s Sabine’s turn to open the bakery tomorrow.”

Marinette nodded, “I’ll be back down when I need a break then.” She was grateful to have them in her life. It hadn’t always been that she had people there that were so invested in her, and she had found the habit of being wholly reliant on Tikki to be hard to break. Her kwami liked the change as well, often sharing time with Tom and Sabine when they were at home. 

Glancing at Sabine, Marinette gave her a small wave. “Goodnight.” 

As she started up the ladder, Sabine called after her, “Goodnight, Marinette. We love you!”

Her hand slipped and she felt herself fall down a rung as those words settled on her mind. “I-I love you too!” She quickly scurried the rest of the way up her ladder, her cheeks reddening as she closed the trapdoor behind her. 

From behind her, Tikki giggled. “You always panic when she says that.” 

Marinette groaned, “it’s weird having people who care enough to say it.” 

Her kwami followed her to her sketching table underneath her bed. She sounded a little hurt as she said, “you always seem fine when it’s me or Alya, though.” She turned on Marinette’s lamp for her. 

“Yeah…” Marinette opened the sketchbook she’d left on it. “It’s different with you two though.” She thumbed through the pages, trying to find the last page she had used to pick up from. “With Alya, it’s just telling a friend, ‘hey I care about you a lot!’” She shrugged, “it’s platonic love.” 

Hovering just inside the top of her vision, Tikki stared intently down at her. She sounded hesitant, “and what about me?”

Marinette scoffed, her gaze dropping as she shook her head before meeting her kwami’s eye. “You know I love you, Tikki.” The thought that Tikki worried that she felt any different made her eyes well up immediately. “After all this time, you really think that I don’t mean it?” 

Reaching out her hands, she cupped them together, and Tikki landed gently in them, reminding Marinette of a little red and black dough ball. She brought her hands forward, leaning her forehead down until it rested against Tikki’s. They closed their eyes as Marinette held them together, the gesture one that was as commonplace as a hug for most other people. 

Marinette whispered as she held her kwami, “you’re the most important person in my life, Tikki. I never could have made it this long without you.” 

“You mean…” Tikki’s little voice muttered, “because you’d have been eaten by mountain lions or died from the black plague?”

“No!” She pulled her hands back and the two locked eyes. “Well…” Marinette laughed, “okay yeah both of those things would have _definitely_ have happened without you.” She shook her head, “but I would have killed myself long before either of those things would have happened.” Her eyes welled again, tears threatening to spill from the corners of them, “You’re the only thing that’s held me together for centuries. You’ve always been there for me, and I love you so much for all the support and love you’ve given me.” She poked her kwami’s tummy, and Tikki giggled as she did, “you’re the single most important person in my life, and I really hope you know that.” 

The little kwami beamed back at her, “I do.” She winked, “just have to make sure every now and then.” Tikki nuzzled her cheek against her chosen’s thumb, “and I love you too, Marinette.”

While the kwami floated up out of her hand, Marinette reached for her pencils. “Now, I need to get to work.” She pointed to the bed above them, “could you please grab my headphones?”

With a small nod, Tikki raced up and was back before Marinette had finished her first line. “Thanks!” 

Her kwami raced off and phased through the ceiling onto the balcony where Marinette had planted dozens of flowers and plants for Tikki. Other than a small walkway, chair, and tea table, the railing was covered in hanging ivy and flower boxes hanging over the sides. Larger pots with bamboo ringed the inside, blocking the view from the street for privacy, and many flowers sat in individual pots just behind them. Other than being with Tom and Sabine, the balcony was the most common place to find Tikki in her down time. 

Excited for the show on Wednesday, she put on Guerilla Poubelle, cranked up the volume, and settled in to sketching out ideas. 

She thought back to the start of her day, and the hour she had spent with Adrien. He’d seemed so nervous this morning, and she had been so excited to start working that she’d felt like the levelheaded one for once. Being in the same room as him, it was hard to keep herself from thinking about when they had hugged, or holding his hand in the restaurant, and how badly she wanted something like that again. But…

Not only was he her boss, he wasn’t even really her friend. Sure they had talked a lot and shared a bit about themselves with one another, but they were still perfect strangers. While the connection between them was undeniable, she knew that it made no sense to want to be so close to someone she didn’t know. Not only that, it was weird, and the last thing she wanted to do was come off as a creep! 

Putting down her pencil, Marinette reached into the drawer beneath her desk and pulled out an old Gabriel magazine from three years ago. Flipping through, she found the reason she still had this old magazine in the first place. There, halfway through was a spread of Adrien modeling swimwear for that year’s season. Her heart skipped as her eyes drifted from his gorgeous green eyes, following his jawline down to his neck and over his well defined torso. 

The water rolled down his firm chest, and over the smooth even separation of his abs. Her teeth unconsciously tugged at her bottom lip, her breath shallowing as she stared at the ads that had more than once eased her desperate lonely fantasies. 

If nothing else, it was one of the nicer parts of living to see the twenty-first century. 

But a part of her felt wrong, looking at these ads after knowing him. For once it felt dirty, and she couldn’t help but think of all she knew about him, and how much of a dork he was. Marinette had never expected that she would get along so well with the object of her private musings, nor that she would ever work with him. He was kinder than she had imagined. More honest, open, friendly, sweet, and, while his eyes didn’t smolder in real life the way they did in pictures, there was a kindness and a gentleness she hadn’t expected. 

Adrien was more than she expected to find, and much as she wanted to rip his shirt from his body, run her hands down his stomach and dig her fingers into his back while he carried her to the bedroo- 

Giving her head a sharp shake, Marinette closed the magazine and tossed it back in it’s drawer. 

God, she needed to get laid. 

That was probably what her whole fascination with him was. It had been a while since anyone had last touched her that way, and she wanted it bad. There were so many projected fantasies on Adrien, it was more than likely the reason her stomach fluttered with butterflies every time she saw him. She was just nervous to meet the object of her… well… objectification. And worse, he was better than she could have ever imagined! His skin was softer, voice sweeter, eyes kinder, and his attitude gentler than she could have made up on her own. He smelled incredible, and talking with him made her heart flutter like it hadn’t in a long long time. 

But she was sure that she could just get a fresh perspective on him after… having her needs met… Until then, it was just built up frustration in her that made interacting with him such a chore. 

She was sure of it. 

Turning her attention back to her work, she did her best to turn her mind to Papillon, and how to defeat him. Though it was considerably less fun to think about, Marinette knew it was more important. 

When the Butterfly Miraculous had been abused in the past, she’d rarely had to wait for her enemy to show themselves. Usually they came right to her, fueled by arrogance and confidence in their powers. But this one was different. He was calmer, more calculating, and seemed to be prepared to play a long game. 

From the couple of times she had fused Tikki with Nooroo, she knew that there was only a certain radius that the Butterfly and Peacock could use their powers in. It was possible that she could track him down if she had enough akuma to plot on a map. But that would require him to make his champions from the same place every time like some kind of supervillain operating out of a lair, and he didn’t seem the type unfortunately. 

The guardians had rituals that could be done to trace the magic used by another miraculous, but those were physically taxing, often taking weeks to track down the ingredients and prepare. While it would give her a sort of magic sight, following the correct energy signatures was often difficult as the magic of the miraculous could hide easily amongst those of the earth and the natural world. The kwami’s were a manifestation of the aspects that made up the universe, and as such, their magic blended with the rest of existence easily. Using that method often took several tries to track before the ritual would run out. And doing so took it’s toll, the user requiring rest before attempting again. She’d burned through several months once trying to locate the Monkey Miraculous, though Xuppu’s power had admittedly made it that much more difficult. 

Annoying as it was, Marinette knew her best bet was for him to come out in the open to face him herself, but she knew the odds of that happening were slim to none.

An earbud was suddenly plucked from her ear, the cord dangling down her neck as Tikki came into her line of sight. She pulled the other from her ear as her kwami started talking. 

“You know you shouldn’t listen to your music so loud, Marinette.”

She rolled her eyes, “thanks, mom.” 

Narrowing her eyes, Tikki let out a small huff before her eyes suddenly snapped open again, her antennae vibrating. She pointed at them, “someone is trying to contact Ladybug.” 

“Oh!” Marinette put her pencil down, “uh… then transform me, Tikki.” Maybe _this_ was that new partner that Fu had promised her? As the flash of light passed and the familiar sensation of the transformation settled over her, she grabbed her yo-yo and flicked the lid open. 

The interface for the communicator had evolved over the millenia, often shifting to concepts that matched what her mind could easily grasp at the time. While it had once had been a basic tab system for each available option, it’s layout had become more similar to that of a modern smartphone as Marinette had grown comfortable with the technology. It had even gained an option to message other miraculous users like a text message whereas for several hundred years it had come with a stylus of sorts that she could essentially write letters or notes with in her yo-yo. 

Opening the call request, Ladybug was met with the cold dead eyes of Papillon staring back at her. She growled, “what do you want?” She hadn’t expected him to try to contact her again. 

“Hmph,” he chuckled. “I realized my actions over the weekend may have been a bit…” he let out a long breath as though he was loath to admit it. “Rash. I was hoping we could talk.”

She couldn’t help herself, Ladybug snapped, “rash? That’s what you call burning hundreds of people alive to get my miraculous?!” Her fingers quivered with quiet rage as she watched his impassive features. Did he feel any remorse at all? Was he just a heartless monster?

He only blinked. “To say the least.” Clearing his throat, Papillon started again. “I saw your press conference. You were right. You offered me other options that I did not give fair consideration.” He held out his communicator, rotating the image to show that he was in fact outside. “I was hoping that we could meet and discuss them.” 

Ladybug felt like the wind was knocked out of her sails suddenly. “Ah…” Was this really going to be that easy to solve? There was no way. This had to be some kind of badly laid trap… right? “Would you be willing to accept the help of the Guardians as well?” If he was serious, she couldn’t pass this chance up. If the end of an almost two hundred year headache was in sight, there was no chance she wouldn’t take it. 

He gave a curt nod, “I would be willing to consider it.” 

“Okay,” she heard herself say. “Where can I find you?” One way or another, this was going to be over tonight. 

“I’ve turned my tracker on.” He showed her his surroundings again, though the dark made for few details. “I am at the center square of four apartment buildings in the thirteenth. I will wait for thirty minutes, but after that, I will be gone.” 

That was barely enough time to get there. She’d hoped she could recruit Nino again, but if she had only half an hour, there was no chance. She had to go in alone. “Fine.” She nodded, “I’ll be there.”

He said again, “thirty minutes.” The call cut off suddenly. 

Wasting no time, Ladybug leapt out of her seat, jumping onto her bed and out her skylight. 

Leaping over the clustered flower pots that dominated her balcony, she planted her foot on the railing and flicked her wrist to extend her yo-yo. It caught, and pulled her two streets over where she vaulted over chimneys and ran as her feet pounded over the clay tiles of the Parisian rooftops. Flicking open her yo-yo’s face, she pulled up the Miraculous tracker and, just as he had promised, Papillon’s signature showed up over in the thirteenth. 

Before it closed, she saw that the time was just after nine o’clock. She snapped her yo-yo shut and shoved it on to her holster as she pushed herself as hard and as fast as she could. What brought about this sudden change of heart of Papillon’s, she had no idea, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was walking into a trap. Just two days ago, he had created an agent bent on burning people alive, and now he wanted to _talk_? 

If there was one thing she knew, it was that people didn’t just have a change of heart like this overnight. Ladybug fully expected to be walking into a fight. As much as she wished she could go get Nino to bring for backup, she didn’t have the time.

But, on the off chance that Papillon was willing to give over his Miraculous for her help, she couldn’t walk away from that offer. It would keep Paris safe, it would save his wife, she could reclaim the miraculous, and they could let this whole conflict be forgotten. Everyone won. 

Sure, there would be people who wouldn’t forgive her for letting Papillon walk free, but if he never showed up again, it would be better. Those who had been traumatized by that initial akuma would want justice they would never get. But eventually they would be okay as it became a distant memory. It wasn’t a perfect trade, but it was one Ladybug could live with. 

She’d made worse deals for less. 

Stopping on the top of a supermarket, she flicked her yo-yo open again, checking his location. He was just a couple of blocks to the south near the edge of the city proper. Returning her yo-yo, she allowed herself a deep breath. 

With a running leap, she hit the ground on a large footbridge, tossed her yo-yo and tugged hard, to be propelled over a wide boulevard. She landed on the roof of a cluster of apartment buildings. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she slowed to a walk across the rooftop as she tried to get her breathing back to an even rhythm. 

Ladybug walked to the edge of the roof and peered down into the walkways between the buildings. In a small, unlit, square at the center of the four buildings, stood Papillon. His hands were folded on the top of his cane, and he seemed to be looking straight on toward the street at the far end. He was actually taller than she expected, and seeing him in person she was surprised by how much his suit resembled a business suit. He must have been some kind of professional in his daily life. Though given his entitled man tantrum he had thrown the other day, she could easily imagine him running a large corporation. His propensity to expect her to give him what he wanted so easily suggested as much at least. 

With one final deep breath, she jumped from the roof, and landed a dozen feet from him. His attention turned to her with an icy grin that made her more wary than she would have liked to admit. “Good evening, Papillon.” 

“Hmmph,” he shook his head. “Good evening, Ladybug.” His stance didn’t change as he met her eye, “I honestly didn’t expect you to come.” 

Her hand fell to rest reassuringly on top of her yo-yo. “I’m hoping we can end this quickly and quietly.” She began stepping toward him, “If we can avoid people being hurt, that’s all I want.” 

Looking to the sky, Papillon nodded. “The events of Saturday were regrettable. I will admit, I had not considered all of my options that day.” His eyes stayed trained upward.

She glanced left and right, a tickle rolling up her spine. “Well, we can discuss them now. You can state the terms you want to do this under. But I promise you, I will make sure you suffer no consequences for your ancestor’s action.” She shrugged, “and the akuma you created…” While she hated trying to let him off for it, it was hardly the worst thing she had seen someone do to try and save their soulmate. “It was an understandable course of action. Grief can cause anyone to react irrationally.”

“Yes.” His voice was quiet as he looked back at her. “It can. I thank you for your understanding. But…” he clicked his tongue a couple of times, “I will not risk taking her to your guardians, still.”

“Ah-” Ladybug blinked in surprise, “Oh.” Nothing about this felt right. It was hard to tell the difference between her intuition and paranoia sometimes, but more and more, she felt paranoid here. He had been much more receptive over their call. She shook her head in confusion, “I’m sorry, but earlier you said-”

He cut her off, his voice hardening. “I’ve changed my mind. I do however have an alternate proposal.”

The breath in her lungs felt shallow. His tone had changed in an instant. Her finger tapped nervously against the surface of her yo-yo. “And that is?”

He gestured toward her, “what if _you_ were to use the Ladybug and Black Cat to save my wife, instead of myself?”

She fought down the urge to scoff at the idea. The temple had assured her since the beginning that that would never be allowed to happen. Not that she would want to. The idea of so much power at her fingertips scared her, and if she was being honest… She didn’t trust herself with it. 

No one had been allowed to hold both since their creation. Even then, it had nearly destroyed the world as the seas rose hundreds of feet in just a few days. Hundreds of thousands of early people and cultures were washed away in what would be remembered as a global flood. All in a simple attempt to lengthen the growing season during a famine in what would become China. 

She remembered, she was chosen to be Ladybug in a desperate attempt to avert the disaster that had been created. But by the time she and Tikki met, there was nothing to be done but watch and help where they could as early civilization collapsed and humanity nearly died out.

Attempting to be diplomatic about it, Ladybug shook her head. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible either, Papillon.” She chose her words carefully, “I don’t trust even myself to wield them together. It’s too risky, and the possibility for it to go awry is incredibly likely.”

With his eyes fixed on her, he was quiet for a long moment, his contempt clear. “I was afraid you would say that.” 

Holding up her free hand, she rushed on. “But, as I said before. There are other options.” Her hand came to her chest. “I could try, myself. I’ve never repaired a broken Miraculous, but I could try to heal her.” She shook her head, a frantic energy rising from her stomach and filling her chest. “No one else needs to get hurt.”

Chuckling, his eyes fell to the ground in front of him. He shook his head again, “oh someone will still get hurt, Ladybug.” He looked back up to her with a glint in his eye. “But it will just have to be you.” His chin bobbed in a curt nod. 

On instinct, her hand pulled up her yo-yo and she aimed for the rooftop above as a thick goop slammed into her right side. She fell, head over heels, and slid along the pavement, her yo-yo slipping from her hand as she went down. Her right arm was pinned to her side beneath the thick substance. Looking to where the yo-yo fell, she saw a woman in blue approaching, a feathered fan in her hands, and a dangerous glint in her eye. 

Ladybug jumped to her feet, the goop on her side causing her to feel off balance as it clung to her suit. Papillon stood behind the woman, staring at her with a bitter smile. She yelled to him, “I thought your wife was ill?!” She knew that this was the Peacock miraculous without having to be told. She’d seen it enough times in the past to know that fan. 

The woman in front of her spoke up, “oh she is, Ladybug. Very. And that is why we need your miraculous.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug saw a large green creature approach from beneath the shadow of a tree. It’s body looked like it ran in rivulets, feeding into its hands, where the substance pooled. It was easily seven feet tall, and stared at her with eyes that reminded her of peppermints. 

She opened her palm, summoning her yo-yo back to her hand as the other tried to push the thick material from her side. “What _is_ this?” Her yo-yo hit her palm as she stared at the three warily. None of them made a move to come at her, and that made her nervous. She needed to get away, to escape so that she could figure out what to do. Two on one against Miraculous wielders would be difficult, but she was confident she could do it. The problem was the unknown creature that Papillon had created. 

He chuckled, his fingers rubbing the top of his cane, “amazing how angry a taffy maker could become by ruining his latest batch. He stood out more than most, this evening.” 

What they were waiting for, Ladybug wasn’t sure. But she knew she had to get away, and fast. There was no way she could win this fight on her own. Quickly looking to the rooftops, she began throwing her yo-yo, only to stop mid swing and squint at the open air above the alleys. “What is…?” There was a glint from the streetlight shining off of a thick thread that ran in a tight crisscross pattern between the rooftops. 

The peacock wielder chuckled, “my pet does quick work.” Ladybug turned her attention to her as she pointed to each of the street entrances. “The walkways were already blocked before you came. So predictable, running over the rooftops.” She shook her head with an amused smile as Ladybug cocked her arm back. “I wouldn’t.” 

She spared her another glance, bile rising in her throat as her breathing began to pick up. “Why?” The word came out in a whisper.

As she gestured around them, a large black spider the size of a smart car descended on a line of thread comparable to a steel cable. “I’m afraid we’ve been webbed in.” She chuckled as Ladybug’s stomach sank, “and this webbing is as strong as it is sticky.” The peacock wielder fanned herself lightly, “you could try and break through, but chances are good you could become stuck in the process.”

There was a repeated clacking that echoed through the alley as the spider tapped it’s jaws together. Ladybug couldn’t help but feel like it was laughing at her. 

From the back of the group, Papillon hadn’t moved from where he’d stood. “We could fight across the city, make the citizens of Paris suffer, and struggle against one another until we gain the upper hand. Or...” He shrugged, “you could hand over your miraculous here and now. We would only have to acquire the Black Cat after that, which I imagine would come into play shortly after you vanish.” 

“And once we are finished with them,” the peacock wielder continued, “you will have them back. As promised.” 

Looking between the four opponents, Ladybug felt her throat constrict. There was a way out. There had to be. She just had to think of something. If she could cut through the webbing, or burn it maybe, then she could escape to fight another day. The taffy hanging from her side weighed her down though, and made her uncertain of her movements. No matter how she tried, she could barely move the arm that was pinned under the thick taffy, and already it felt like it was going numb. 

Looking at the Peacock wielder, she made a desperate plea. “Please. That miraculous is going to make you sick, just the same as Papillon’s wife.” She nodded to the butterfly wielder standing beyond them. “He’s willing to risk yours and everyone else’s lives in Paris just to get what he wants.” Ladybug knew she sounded desperate, but what other choice did she have? “Help me stop him, here and now, and we can make this right!” 

For a long moment, the Peacock wielder was quiet, watching her dispassionately as a child watches an ant under a magnifying glass. Finally a small smile formed on her lips. “You think I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t also have stakes in this fight?” 

She started quickly, “whatever he’s promised to do for you, it’s not worth the cost to this city!” Ladybug could just barely feel her fingers wiggle in the open air beneath the wad of taffy. If she could just flex her hand, she could break a bit of it and maybe get her arm free before they charged her. 

The woman in front of her spat, “our cause is one in the same!” She sneered as she asked, “what makes you think she was only _his_ soulmate?”

Ladybug’s stomach tightened, and she realized she had no choice but to fight her way out of here. Irrational resentment for the woman they were trying to save rose in her chest. She got two soulmates? 

Pushing down her anger, she adjusted her stance while trying to keep herself balanced against the wad of taffy. No matter what, she had to keep her miraculous from them at all costs. 

...

* * *

…

Looking at the clock in the corner of his desktop, Adrien sighed. It was past midnight, and he was very likely spending the night in his office again. He'd put off approving expense reports for the last week and was finally paying the price for it. 

Next to him on his desk, Plagg was curled up in a small ball with the remains of the waxy outer coating of the brie surrounding him. The little kwami had complained for hours about being bored before finally gorging himself and passing out. If Adrien ignored the leadup to how he came to be this way, the little god creature was pretty cute. 

That was of course, barring his personality. 

Still, the few days he had already spent with Plagg had been fun and exciting. He’d learned so much, and getting used to his powers was feeling less daunting, the few times he had actually allowed himself to don them. A couple of late night rooftop runs, practicing with the baton in his living room, and having Nino throw rocks at him while he practiced deflecting them were the most he had done so far. 

Of course, there would be plenty of time in the future, he was sure of it. He would have to introduce himself to Ladybug at some point, and he was getting more and more nervous about that fact. She was his idol, his hero, ever since Adrien was little. 

Admittedly, he had gone through a bit of a hero worship phase when he was younger. But that was mostly because she had plucked him from the road before being flattened by a car. He had decided to run away from home because his mom wouldn’t let him have dessert. And he was sure Ladybug hadn’t aged a day since then. 

Come to think of it, maybe he had a thing for older women because of her? That would explain his infatuation with Marinette, though he hadn’t exactly known how old she was until today… 

He shrugged it off. Coincidences happened. And besides, everyone loved Ladybug at some point or another. It was hard not to. 

Then again… that could apply to Marinette too. He doubted there were many people who came into contact with her and _didn’t_ fall in love. 

Not that he would say he _loved_ her! 

But, on a long enough timeline, he could see how it could happen. What wasn’t there to fall for about Marinette? Well… aside from the early history of helping to enforce colonization and the questionable criminal past, that is. But everybody makes mistakes. And it seems like she’s definitely come out the other side better for her past. 

Pushing the thought aside, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk where his favorite blanket was folded with care. Tonight was a sleeping in the office kind of night. Even as Chat Noir, he didn’t feel like running or vaulting back home. He just wanted to lay down on the couch and not do anything. Maybe scroll his phone for a bit, and then he’d be right out. He could always go home tomorrow or take an early day or something. 

Closing the drawer, Adrien stood with his blanket in hand and yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. After a couple of satisfying pops, he began making his way over to the couch. But before he made it halfway there, he was stopped by the sudden appearance of a large white oval appearing in midair in front of him. “What the-” 

A crimson head of hair wearing a white and blue domino mask with matching bunny ears peaked out from the side. “About time you’re done with your work! Come on kid, we’ve got things to do.” As she came into view, she waved him toward her. 

He blinked as the realization dawned on him that this was another Miraculous wielder. “Hi, uh… who are you?”

“Oh, right!” The rabbit themed person bumped their palm against her forehead. “Sorry. Forgot this is the first time you’ve met me.” She stepped from the portal and extended a hand to Adrien. “Name’s Bunnyx, and I’m a Miraculous wielder like you.” She pointed a finger at the portal behind her. “That’s my burrow and I travel through time in it saving yours, Ladybugs, and anyone else’s butts that need it in order to keep the timeline on it’s optimum path.”

While he tried to wrap his head around that introduction, he reached for and shook her outstretched hand. “Hi Bunnyx. Adrie- er… Chat Noir.” Taking back his hand, he glanced at the portal behind her. “Did you say this is the first time _I’ve_ met _you_?” Time travel? That was _way_ cooler than destroying things with his hands! Nevermind the fact that people weren’t even technically sure it was possible from a scientific standpoint. 

Then again, the magic of kwamis didn’t seem to care about what the laws of physics had to say about their existence. 

“Sure is!” She nodded, her bunny ears wiggling above her head. “I figured I would wait until you were finished with your paperwork to introduce myself.” She chuckled, “coming in the middle of it left you grumpy tomorrow after you got even further behind in your work because of…” Bunnyx shrugged with a knowing grin, “well, you’ll see.”

“Uh… thanks?” Adrien scratched the back of his head in confusion, glancing wistfully at the blanket in his hand. He wasn’t going to get to relax any time soon, he just knew it. “What are you coming to get me for exactly?”

For a second it didn’t seem like she had heard him because she was too busy looking around his office at the decor. “Hmm… this place looks better once you redecorate it in a year or two,” she muttered. Turning her attention back to him she shrugged. “Nothing big. Just gotta go save Ladybug from getting her butt handed to her by Papillon.” 

His eyes snapped wide open and he dropped his blanket in surprise. “What?! And you waited to come get me until I was done with work?” Adrien raced back to his desk, shaking the little kwami ball awake. “Plagg! Get up! We have to go save Ladybug!” 

The kwami only swiped at him with a paw and nestled it back under his head without even opening his eyes. 

Feeling frantic, Adrien shouted, “now, Plagg!” 

The sound of laughter carried from behind him, and he turned to find Bunnyx doubled over with her hand supporting her on her knee. 

He gaped incredulously back at the time traveling rabbit hero. “What’s so funny?! We need to get there now!”

Rolling her eyes as she got her laughter under control, Bunnyx stood back up again. “Calm down, Mr. Cool Calm and Collected. The fight’s already over.” 

Blinking, Adrien’s franticness fell to a low simmer as he tried to understand what she meant. “What? Bu-But you said-” 

Putting one hand on her hip, Bunnyx drew lazy circles in the air with the other as she spoke. “Yeah, it’s important, and we need to get going. But I didn’t say it was happening _right now._ ”

“You uh…” Adrien suddenly felt very confused. “You lost me, Bunnyx.” 

With a grin, she rolled her eyes again. “You’re already at home asleep, you ding dong. The fight was done a while ago.”

Shaking his head, Adrien tried to get a hold of what she was telling him. “But… if it’s already done… what do I need to do then?”

"Well duh.” She huffed, “if we don't go now then you'll end falling asleep in your office, Ladybug will be all alone and lose the fight and her miraculous, and then you'll be alone to fight Papillon because you never went to help her in the first place!” Bunnyx fixed him with a look that told him that much should have been obvious. “And uh… if that happens? You're gonna lose.” She deadpanned, “bad. Real bad." 

Sounding exasperated, she went on, “geez kid, it’s not hard to figure out. Now we need to go back and actually do the thing!” She narrowed her eyes at him, her tone just a little condescending, “aren’t you supposed to be like… smart? This is basic time travel stuff!”

“Sorry,” he closed his eyes, grabbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Sorry, everything I know about the subject is purely theoretical.” He let out a deep breath, thinking he understood. “So it’s over now, but that’s only because you took Me, the now me from after the fight happened to go and do the fight so that I can be the future me that’s currently curled up in my bed at home before I ever left?” 

A grin split Bunnyx’s face as she nodded. “Hey look at you getting this stuff all on your own!” Shot shot him a thumbs up, “you catch on fast!”

“Uh…” Adrien glanced at the ceiling, trying to get his thoughts in order. “One question though.”

She shrugged, “shoot.”

“If I’m both here _and_ at home in my bed right now, shouldn’t that like…” he interlocked his fingers, staring at them intently as he unfolded from top to bottom. “Cause a tear in the fabric of spacetime or create a paradox or something to screw up reality as we know it?”

Nodding vigorously with a large grin, Bunnyx replied, “yeah, you’d think huh?” She shrugged nonchalantly. “But my kwami is the literal incarnation of time as a concept so I don’t think those rules apply to them.”

“Huh…” Kwami magic, man. “Wait…” he jerked his thumb back over his shoulder toward his desk. “Then… did you just sit in your burrow and watch me do my work until I was done?” 

Bunnyx laughed, “I mean I fast forwarded through the boring bits and the endless name signing, but yeah.” She nodded, “more or less.”

Suddenly he felt very exposed and tried to think of every minor embarrassing thing he had probably done when he thought he was alone. 

Well… 

As alone and he could ever get with Plagg around. It was amazing how fast he got used to the kwami just… always being there. 

He raised a bemused eyebrow, “do you always just sit and watch what people are doing while you’re waiting for them to be ready?”

“Everyone except my wife,” Bunnyx winked. “I like to be surprised by her!”

“Creepy,” he deadpanned. Before she could reply, he gestured to himself. “Should I transform before we go?”

“Nope!” She turned back to face her burrow, talking with her hands as she walked back into it. “We have to stop and pick somebody up first, and you need to be yourself when you meet them.” 

Adrien quickly put on his blazer and gingerly grabbed Plagg from his desk. He tucked him as gently as he could into his jacket pocket before turning to follow after Bunnyx. His kwami didn’t so much as twitch as he was moved. He asked after her, “so we’re doing a time traveling carpool?”

Her voice came from deeper inside, echoing back, “yup!”

Eyeing the edge of the portal, he braced his hands on either side as he carefully stepped inside. Adrien found himself standing on a featureless white platform that extended in a vast circle around an equally nondescript room save for what looked like several hundred television screens. “Whoa!” He looked around attempting to take it all in. “It’s bigger on the inside!” 

His vision suddenly went black as a heavy object was shoved over his head. From beside him he heard Bunnyx groan, “Not a Tardis!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, what took you so long?! I’ve been waiting forever! Jeesh, it’s like you just got done reading a chapter that was nearly 13,000 words or something :P 
> 
> I hope this chapter was worth the wait! It was both fun and difficult to write with how long it got @.@ I honestly didn’t think it would get to be this much. But hey, hopefully I won’t do that to myself again xD 
> 
> What did you think? How do you feel about Plagg and Adrien now that we got a sufficient glimpse into them? And Adrien knowing about Marinette’s past?? That certainly won’t have a ripple effect, I’m sure ;D Hopefully the snippet of the dorks was good! Adrien was a little distracted at the time, so his participation was a little minimal. And Papillon going for the, “oh I just want to tal- SYKE!” I mean she saw it coming, but didn’t exactly expect to be ambushed AND outnumbered :/ 
> 
> And omg writing the Bunnyx and Adrien bit was my favorite and by far the easiest! I got that all down in one go last night! I actually thought up all of the dialogue for it while we were putting Leon to sleep lol after that, as soon as he was out, I was just like, “I need to go!” xD
> 
> Oh and uh… sorry for the lie I’ve been pitching you all about Chat Noir finally showing up for real in this chapter ^.^; I WAS SURE HE WOULD!!! ;_; But then the chapter just got so long, and I was already struggling to get it out, and I just wanted to be done with it already, and I’M SO SORRY I DECEIVED YOU! T.T
> 
> *Spongebob Narrator voice* Next week for sure! 
> 
> Sorry again that this took me so long to get out. I know that you all were super patient and sweet about it, but I still appreciate it nonetheless <3 
> 
> I’m going to be doing my best to jump back on my posting schedule now, and I don’t think that’ll be super hard. We’re just going to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and keep going! :D … after laying facedown in the dirt for… 3 weeks? A month? Idk man, it was tasty dirt. 
> 
> But next week, we’ve got a fourway super fight, Chat Noir meets Ladybug, finds a mentor, and Gabriel and Nathalie have a little planning sesh. 
> 
> I’ll see all of you brilliant, wonderful, sweet, patient people (fingers crossed) next week <3 Until then, practice good hygiene, stay quarantined, and don’t cough on anyone you love! Enemies are fine though ;D 
> 
> Buh Bye!


	10. Les Deux Chat et Deuxièmes Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug gets her butt saved. Chat is poorly received. Marinette stumbles through work. Creation and Destruction try again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! :D
> 
> If you're wondering why the chapter name is in French suddenly, it's because I've been hitting duolingo hard lately xD
> 
> I’ll tell you this! It is definitely WONDERFUL to be back the week following my last post! Yes sir, I can’t believe this lying website would have ya’ll believe that I posted my next chapter almost TWO WHOLE MONTHS after the last one! :O 
> 
> Honestly… I’m shocked. No integrity at all on Ao3. 
> 
> Sad really : (
> 
> …
> 
> Okay, but for real? 
> 
> I’m SO FUCKING SORRY!!!! 
> 
> My brain just… does not make the serotonin to be able to handle quarantine and produce content : ( The monotony is just… overwhelming. 
> 
> I was going to wait until Friday like normal, but I figured I had made ya'll wait long enough. 
> 
> Tbh a decent motivating factor in getting this chapter finished was that my wife started reading this story lol but I’ve also been getting back into some decent habits that I let drop and getting my shit together has really helped me find the motivation to write again. 
> 
> Go figure :P
> 
> But for all of you that are new here since my last post, thanks for believing I would be back! And that goes double to everybody who has stuck with this thing from before! I won’t promise that I’ll be nearly as consistent with updates as I was in the beginning, because I clearly can’t anticipate my brain. 
> 
> Bare minimum we’ll be going for an update once a month, but I’m going to TRY for next week. 
> 
> But! 
> 
> I absolutely promise you that I will not be abandoning this story! I’m too excited about it to let it just stop ^.^ Updates may get few and a bit far between at times, but it’ll get done! 
> 
> Part of my problem, honestly, was that I was really bummed about bumping chapter 10 back to 11, because that’s one I have been looking forward to giving you guys for a while now! I’m really excited for it because SO MUCH happens and it’s easily one I’ve been excited about since like… chapter 2 went up lol 
> 
> I guess the one good thing about all of this is that I have figured out every major plot point and am currently working on the finer details for the overall narrative. I’m just going to apologize in advance because… well… shits gonna get a little hectic for our heroes for… the foreseeable future xD 
> 
> I don’t have an exact chapter count as of yet, but I’m thinking we’ll probably end up somewhere in the mid-40’s? That could raise depending on how longwinded I get and need to shuffle things into later chapters, but for the moment, that’s about what I’m anticipating :D
> 
> I also am going to start posting some stuff I have for a Life is Strange story I’ve had sitting in my WIPs forever. Like… three times as long as this Miraculous story has ever been a thing lol it's seriously older than my son! TLHoC is still going to be my main focus though! My LiS story will mostly be my backburner for when I’m stuck with this one and want to keep writing. 
> 
> I’ve been on a serious Life is Strange kick through quarantine and I’m feeling the itch to start posting some of that, if only to keep myself from editing it into oblivion ^.^;
> 
> But if you’re interested in that fandom, check it out ^.^ it’s going to be incredibly angsty, and incredibly gay! It’s called Trapped in Amber, and you can find the first prologue chapter (from Rachel’s perspective) in my works, or right [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24118510/chapters/58063984#workskin). The third chapter is going up on Friday >.>... 
> 
> I swear I’ve only been editing what I have! I have like 5-6 fully fleshed out chapters (depending how I divide things up) and I haven’t written anything new for that one! 
> 
> Yet…
> 
> I promise, I’ve been slacking on BOTH of these stories! xD 
> 
> Oh! And thank you [AlgernonInWonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlgernonInWonderland/pseuds/AlgernonInWonderland) for helping me with the chapter title ^.^ I wasn’t confident in my French and they checked and corrected what I had wrong. They’re really nice and they have a few cute fics that you should check out! There's a couple Marigami (a favorite of mine <3) and a Juleka/Rose one shot they've written that I'm really excited to check out ^.^ They’re also on [Tumblr](https://algernoninwonderland.tumblr.com/) and post a lot of Miraculous content if you’re there :D
> 
> Also, I'm crazy behind on replying to comments, and I'm gonna work on that now lol
> 
> So, anyway, this note has gone on for MORE than long enough! So here’s what you really came for ;P

Looping her finger through the string of her yo-yo, Ladybug gripped the body of it so tightly her hand hurt. The spider was advancing on her from the left, the taffy creature from further off to the right, another projectile forming in its hand. And in front of her the Peacock wielder was running at her. 

With a heavy grunt she juked to the left out of the way of the charging woman, and tossed her yo-yo with a quick glance at the arachnid. The disk wrapped around the spider’s front legs, and it fell into the pavement with a heavy crash and a disconcerting shriek. She dropped the string as her focus shifted to her next foe.

As the Peacock wielder skidded to a halt, Ladybug kicked out her foot into the side of her opponent’s knee and she crumpled to the ground with a sickening pop. Ladybug doubted she’d broken the bone, but dislocating it bought her time to deal with the other three. 

While the woman clutched her knee, cursing, she attempted to knock it back into place without much luck. Ladybug spared a glance at Papillon before dropping to the ground, narrowly avoiding the akuma’s thrown wad of taffy. Luckily, for the moment, he seemed content to let his minions deal with her. 

A heavy pounding across the ground told her the akuma was coming at her next. Jumping to her feet, she tried to think of something to stop the monster, but nothing came to mind that wouldn’t shorten her transformation time. She remembered the fire extinguisher she had summoned to save Adrien.

Cold would be ideal, but...

It had been an easy decision when she’d already summoned the two objects beforehand. But now? There were stronger opponents to deal with than what had been present that day, and she needed to save all the transformation time she could. 

Holding her hands a couple of feet apart, she summoned a steaming block of dry ice and threw it at the creature’s leg before dodging out of it’s way. The block sank into it as it ran by her, and she glanced to see it’s leg seizing and hardening, fast. It let out an angry growl as it’s movement suddenly halted. 

A pained cry came from the Peacock wielder as she knocked her knee back into place, and out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug could see her getting to her feet again. She glanced at the spider as it struggled against her yo-yo string, thankfully still caught up in it. 

Getting to her feet, the Peacock wielder looked murderously at her, her stance uncertain as she put weight on her knee. She winced, sucking in air through her teeth as she plucked feathers from her fan and threw them like knives. 

Ladybug’s body seized in place as the projectiles came at her faster than she could dodge and she stupidly closed her eyes and raised her forearms to protect her face. There was a rush of air in front of her, and the sound of the knife-like feathers smacking into… something. 

Opening her eyes, Ladybug saw a blue and white suited figure standing in front of her, an umbrella opened in front of them like a shield. Bunnyx looked over her shoulder back at Ladybug with a shit eating grin. “Looked like you could use some help.”

She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her savior, “oh, thank god,” she muttered. Movement at her right caught her attention, and she closed her fingers around a javelin and moved to strike. Ladybug stopped as she registered a black suit, cat ears, and a golden bell dangling from a zipper that was partially undone. His blonde hair was a messy tangle, and she could make out a nervous expression beneath teeth bared in Papillon’s direction as he gripped an extended silver staff from either end.

This _had_ to be her new partner! She felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders at the realization. 

It was about fucking time, Fu!

In front of her, Bunnyx smirked over her shoulder. “Oh yeah, I brought a couple of friends.”

A couple? 

As she wondered what she meant, a man’s irritated voice from behind her made her jump, gripping the javelin tightly. “Jesus, Bug. Watch your back!” 

Ladybug turned, making out a black suit that was immediately familiar. Shadow Cat’s hand extended with a dark energy crackling at his fingertips as a wad of taffy dissolved in front of him. She could only see a side profile of him, but she knew that he was probably thirty years younger than the man who had retired in her time. 

When was this Shadow Cat from?

Grinning, Ladybug suddenly felt a lot more confident in her odds in this fight. “I am _so_ happy to see you all!”

In front of her, Bunnyx said, “Chat Noir, be a dear and help Ladybug with that goop. Shadow Cat, get Clay Face, and I’ll deal with the Bird.” 

Behind her, she heard Shadow Cat spring into action as the creature roared. There was a shattering sound as it broke its leg, taffy running down in place to replace what it had lost. 

Charging forward, Bunnyx closed her umbrella and hefted it like a bat toward the Peacock wielder. 

Next to her, the one Bunnyx had called Chat Noir reached out a tentative hand, muttering, “cataclysm.” He looked uncertain about getting the destructive energy near her. 

Watching the spider beginning to free itself, Ladybug snapped at him, “hurry up and do it!” 

He jumped as she yelled and pressed his hand to the taffy, the candy disintegrating in seconds. 

Fucking newbies. 

Suppressing an annoyed groan, Ladybug rolled her shoulder and waved for him to follow her. “Come on. Let’s get this thing!” As the spider pulled it’s legs free of the string, she planted her foot and launched the javelin into one of it’s bulbous eyes. The creature shrieked as it spun in place, using its front legs to try to dislodge the projectile. 

Running at it, Ladybug caught sight of it’s backside, the design on it’s abdomen looking raised and having a distinct crystalized pattern. She yelled back to her new partner, pointing it out. “Use your cataclysm on that spot and it should destroy it!” She held her hand out for her yo-yo, and as it flew back into her hand, Chat Noir vaulted over her with his staff. 

“On it!” He yelled as he sailed through the air. 

He landed behind the creature and reached his hand dramatically into the air, calling loudly for his cataclysm once again. 

His yell alerted the spider to his location and it tried to spin to face him, but before it could, Ladybug grabbed hold of the javelin sticking out of it’s face and pushed it deeper in. In response, it shot a blast of webbing from it’s abdomen at Chat as he reached for the spot. 

“Dammit!” Ladybug bit her cheek in frustration, “don’t be flashy! Be efficient!” Having a new partner jump into a situation like this with no prior training had her more on edge than she had been on her own. She’d regret being so short with him later, but right now, he was a liability. 

Behind the spider, Chat was stuck to the ground by the webbing, and his hand holding his power was trapped, outstretched from his body as far as it could be. He flailed his hand, trying to touch the web, but his wrist wouldn’t bend far enough to allow his hand to move that way. 

Letting go of the javelin as the spider tried to jerk away, it pitched into the ground as it struggled against open air. Ladybug took the opportunity to jump over it to get to her new partner. She flicked her wrist and a dagger materialized in her grip. She slashed for the web on the side nearest, and the blade only made it as far as his elbow before it was stuck in the webbing. Summoning the dagger back into her hand, she slashed at the other side of his arm, and freed it enough to allow him the motion he needed to touch the clump of webbing at his shoulder. 

While the web fractured away, Ladybug held her hand out to help Chat Noir up, and he took it with a sheepish, “thank you.” 

“Yeah,” she snapped. “Now let’s try this again.” Glancing at Bunnyx, she saw that Papillon had finally joined the fight, and the duo was steadily gaining the advantage. 

They had to get in and help, soon. 

The spider turned to face them, clacking it’s jaws angrily while thick fluid pulsed from it’s ruptured eye. As Chat vaulted over her again, she called after him, “no fuck ups!” Letting the dagger vanish from her grip, she hefted her yo-yo and threw it again to catch the creature’s legs. As it got wrapped up in the string, it went down while Chat Noir landed behind it. 

With no extraneous movements, his hand shot toward the crystalline structure while his mouth murmured cataclysm. As his hand made contact, a black feather popped into the air and Ladybug tugged on her yo-yo and it quickly retracted back into her palm. 

She ran a finger down it’s center to activate the capture function as the spider struggled to it’s feet and lunged for Ladybug. She threw her yo-yo again, catching the feather easily. In front of her, the spider dissolved in a black bubbling mass as it’s jaws came centimeters from her face. 

A small harmless house spider dropped to the ground in it's place.

Wasting no time, she ran toward Shadow Cat’s fight with the akuma. As she passed Chat Noir, she called, “good job, Chat! Go help Bunnyx!”

A part of her felt guilty because she would rather have fought with Shadow Cat than her new partner, but there was a practicality to her joining the fight with him that couldn’t be denied as well. She _was_ the only one who could purify akuma, after all. That she missed fighting with her old partner at her side rather than a new wielder who didn’t know his ass from a basketball was the thing she chose to ignore. 

New partners had made her nervous since Temujin. He'd broken her trust in a way that she'd never quite been able to let another partner in. Even then, it was easier to go back to someone she knew and had history with than a new face. 

Ahead of her, Shadow Cat caught another wad of taffy in his hand already coursing with destructive energy. He growled softly under his breath as she stopped at his side. 

"Any ideas about the akuma, Tomcat?" Her eyes traveled quickly over the taffy creature, but nothing immediately showed itself. 

Even though he'd never actually fought an akuma, Ladybug had made sure Shadow Cat was trained in how to deal with them. She'd done the same with Night Prowler before him, and her partner Black Fang when the miraculous had originally been stolen. 

All so that they could be prepared if they eventually cropped up. 

She ground down another wave of resentment toward Chat Noir as she was reminded yet again that she would have to train him for it as well. And on the job no less. She did her best to remind herself that it wasn't his fault. 

Shadow Cat gave a quick shake of his head. His tone was curt as he said, "nope. But you're smart, Bug. Figure it out." He sniffed, shooting her an angry glance. "I'm just your meat shield after all, right?" 

Oh…

Before Ladybug could reply, he launched himself at the akuma again, dancing between its blows while he sheared pieces of it off in large slabs with his destructive hands. 

Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to train her new partner. 

This Shadow Cat was from a time before they had resolved the worst fight they'd had. It didn't help that it had been all her fault. 

Ladybug had been... drunk… or… high? It could have been both for all she knew. She didn't really remember. Either way, she'd called him out of the blue sometime before she'd gotten clean and told him all the reasons she didn't need him and why he just slowed her down. 

It was the first time she'd contacted him in almost a year. They didn't even talk again until three years later, when she found out what she'd done. Ladybug had said a lot, and hurt him quite a bit. 

He'd never even told her all the things she said, and part of her never wanted to know. But it had only been the last ten years of their partnership that he'd ever really forgiven her. Though... there was a time when he'd been considerably more willing to speak to her when he was around this age… 

Maybe she got the chance to speak to him tonight? 

One way or another, this wasn't something she was looking forward to. But if she could start the healing between them tonight, on top of everything else, she would. 

Joining the fray, Ladybug ducked underneath a thick taffy arm and summoned another block of dry ice. She tossed the steaming block up into the monster’s armpit and jumped back as the arm quickly stopped moving. Leaving the block in place made more of the creature movements sluggish and it seemed to be slowing rapidly. It roared loudly and it’s jaw didn’t quite close properly afterward, and even it’s legs came to a halt as cold runnels of taffy incorporated themselves into them. 

That should buy them a few seconds. 

Stopping his attacks, Shadow Cat called out, “ideas?”

“Hmm…” looking over it’s body didn’t yield many answers. “You haven’t seen anything when you were slicing through it?” 

A frustrated growl rose from the creature as her partner walked around the front of it, inspecting it. “Just more taffy running to fill the… gaps…” Suddenly he squinted and focused on it’s head. “Wait.” He pointed, “look in it’s mouth, Bug.” 

Ladybug was grateful they could at least work together without their personal problems interfering.

As she came to stand by him, he pointed up, “is that what we’re looking for?” 

There, curled like an angry black wave in it’s mouth was a length of taffy that was black as night compared to the creature’s sickly green. The ruined taffy must have also been the item, then. “Yeah!” She nudged him with her elbow with a grin, forgetting for a moment that this wasn’t her Shadow Cat. “Good eye, Tomcat.” 

“Uh… thanks.” He eyed her warily before looking over his shoulder back at their allies’ fight. “We should wrap this up.” Looking back at their foe and avoiding her, he called, “dibs!” Taking his baton from his side, Shadow Cat extended his weapon and rose into the air until he was level with the taffy creature’s head. Bracing both feet against it in a feat that should have sent him sprawling on the pavement, he held onto the baton with one hand while reaching the other out with a crackling fingertip. He touched the digit to the ‘tongue’, and the thing quickly disintegrated. 

Ladybug swiped a finger down her yo-yo to activate it’s capture function and after a quick swing, tossed it at the ascending akuma. Horrible a shot as she was, the miraculous never let her miss, and she was grateful for that. As it closed around the butterfly, the akuma fell apart in another black bubbling mass. 

A confused man wearing an apron over his clothes kneeled where the creature had been, rubbing his head. Looking from Ladybug to Shadow Cat, he opened his mouth to speak, but her partner quickly cut him off. 

“Go hide, sir! We have a fight to finish!” Shadow Cat spun his staff in hand as he touched the ground, and took off toward their remaining foes. 

Only sparing him a quick glance, Ladybug turned to join her allies. 

…

* * *

…

Silently berating himself for his tentativeness and his screw ups, Chat turned to join Bunnyx. He’d been so determined to impress Ladybug that he’d let his nerves get the better of him, and now he worried that she was going to regret that he was one she wound up stuck with. He felt like a fucking child out here with three experienced Miraculous wielders and was sure he was just going to get in the way. 

Adrien had to admit it to himself. He had no idea what he was doing. 

Where was that ancestral memory thing that Plagg had talked about? Why didn’t that kick in when he needed it instead of shouting at the sky and alerting the enemy to his plan like a moron? 

Stupid, stupid, stupid! 

Gripping his staff tightly, Chat vaulted to Bunnyx’s side as Papillon tried to attack her from the back. She had been so busy fending off the Blue Woman, she’d lost track of him. 

As Papillon’s cane came down, Chat raised his staff, catching the weapon and thrusting his enemy back. As the Butterfly wielder regained his balance, Chat turned the staff to a position he was more familiar with while decreasing the length of it. 

Holding his weapon like he would a fencing saber, Chat lunged at Papillon for a strike to his chest. His foot came down and his arm jabbed while he extended the staff catching the off-balance Butterfly wielder at his diaphragm and sent him reeling backward. 

The older man caught himself with his cane, barely staying on his feet. Retracting his staff, he advanced on the man as he was met with a deadly ire. 

Papillon sneered, "a background in fencing for our new hero, eh?”

He nodded, giving a small grin from the corner of his mouth. “I’ll have to thank my parents for the lessons.” 

“Hmph,” the Butterfly wielder grunted. His eyes widened, meeting Chat’s in an unnerving stare that seemed to draw him in until it was all he could focus on. 

What had been a small lump of uncertainty in his abilities grew to a knot of fear in his chest. A quiver shook Chat’s arm and he felt his nerve failing him as he looked into his opponents eyes. Suddenly all he wanted was to be home and safe in his bed. Tears began to bead in the corner of his eye, and his arm began to fall to his side as he prepared to run. 

He couldn’t do this. 

It was all too much. 

There was no way they could defeat Papillon. 

Dread clutched his heart as the realization that he would lose his miraculous and fail Ladybug overwhelmed him. 

Adrien had to get out of here!

He had to- 

A sharp smack broke his eye contact with Papillon and forced his gaze to the ground in front of him. Like that, the hopelessness that gripped him vanished, and the fear faded as though it had never been there. 

From behind him, Bunnyx called. “Sorry, Kitty Cat! I forgot to mention it, but don’t look them in the eye!” She grunted as she exchanged blows with the Peacock wielder, “they can manipulate your emotions if you focus too much on them!” 

For a split second, Chat’s eyes almost met Papillon’s again, but he managed to make himself focus a glare on the man’s chin instead. He called back as he raised his staff back to it’s defensive position, “so deal with him like my father, is what you’re telling me?” 

“Exactly!” Bunnyx laughed, a heavy thwip of air sounding as she swung her umbrella. 

“Always wanted to dropkick the bastard,” Chat muttered as Papillon charged at him. 

Rolling clear of Papillon’s attack, Chat landed in a crouch and swung his staff for the back of the man’s nearest knee. He felt the hit connect more than saw it, and was rewarded with seeing his enemy collapse onto the pavement backwards. The man’s cane rolled from his grasp as he hit the ground.

He realized he hadn’t even thought to do that, and the movement had felt as natural as breathing. Was that what Plagg had meant about ancestral memory?

Filing it to the back of his mind, Chat’s eyes fell on Papillon’s cane. While he recovered, Chat made a grab for it, his hand closing around the bulbous top of it. Inside, he could see a white butterfly fluttering like the one Ladybug had released. 

While Chat made a grab for his cane, Papillon rolled away and threw himself back onto his feet like some kind of old martial artist. He actually did it with more grace and agility than Chat expected from someone his age. 

The butterfly wielded glanced behind Chat for a moment, and before he could stop himself, he followed the man's gaze to the disintegrating akuma behind them. He started to grin, feeling excited that they were winning, but when he looked back the older man had his teeth barred in anger. 

Calling to his ally, Papillon said, “Mayura! I am afraid we’ve overstayed our welcome!” He held out a hand to Chat, and there was an instant pull on the cane he held. 

Try as he might to keep it, the weapon pulled him forward to Papillon, and digging in his heels only made it’s pull harder. Suddenly, with a great tug, the cane pulled free from his gasp and sent him flying forward, only to land at Papillon’s feet. 

For a second, the older man locked eyes with him before glancing back at where Ladybug and Shadow Cat were quickly approaching from. He called to his partner, “time to make our exit!” 

As Chat got his feet under him, Papillon hauled back with his right leg and let loose a heavy kick to Chat’s abdomen, sending him falling back to the ground as the wind was knocked from his lungs. While he wheezed for breath, Chat looked up to see Papillon holding the butterfly from his cane, the small insect now black as night in his grasp. He released it and ran to Mayura’s side where he fended off Bunnyx with a strike to the back of her head. 

The peacock wielder plucked a feather from her fan and held it in her palm, where it became black, imbued with her intentions. She blew the delicate feather away into the trees of the square, and Chat watched as it settled into a leaf in the dense foliage. 

Getting his breath back, he managed to get a knee under himself as the ground rumbled beneath him. He spared a glance to the pair of villains only to see a large white four-legged creature burst from the wall of one of the apartments and come to their side. For a moment, he could have sworn it looked exactly like Kirara from ‘ _Inuyasha_ ’, but the duo mounted and were off before he could get a good look. 

The creature raced past the tree where the feather had landed as it grew to a monstrous size, it’s roots pushing it forward through the concrete around them as though it weren’t there. It stopped in the middle of the square, separating the four miraculous wielders from their escaping query. 

As Chat got his feet under him, Ladybug made a mad dash past him to follow after Papillon and Mayura. But before she got far, concrete cracked and shattered, sending dust and rock flying as a thick root shot from the ground and caught her out of the airb mid-stride. It didn’t even slow as it threw her back toward the group. 

As she hurtled back to them, Chat froze. He could see that she wasn’t going to land well, but his body refused to move. 

Next to him, Shadow Cat rocketed into the air, his staff propelling him upward faster than Chat would have thought possible. She slammed into his chest, sending Shadow Cat flying off of the staff, and he spun in the air, righting himself with her securely in his arms, and landed on the ground in a crouch. 

Around the exits to the square, roots the size of baseball bats grew from the ground, intertwining in a thick weave to block off the other routes of escape. They steadily began growing over the gaps in the rooftops to block every way the heroes could have used to follow the rogue wielders. 

Without even so much as a thank you, Ladybug jumped from his arms. She threw her yo-yo toward the nearest building that still offered a way out with a growl, only to watch it be knocked from the sky by a heavy swing of the tree’s branches. “No!” She screamed in frustration, “dammit, Bunnyx _do something_! They’re going to get away!” She turned a glare on the rabbit hero, oblivious to the giant stoic creature before them. 

With a quick roll of his eyes, Shadow Cat looked to Chat. “Come on! Looks like it’s up to us to deal with this!” He ran for the tree monster, holding his hand out for his staff as he passed, and it leapt into his hand. 

Chat gave a curt nod and followed after the older Black Cat wielder. But before they had gotten to their target, Ladybug screamed in frustration as Bunnyx said something to her. She glared at the rabbit hero and yelled, “both of you just stand back!”

Stopping in his tracks, Shadow Cat threw up his hands. “Be my guest then!” Chat stopped short of where he had, feeling like a child caught between his parent’s fighting. Shadow Cat huffed in frustration, muttering under his breath, “what the hell am I even doing here?” Chat couldn’t help but wonder the same about himself. This wasn’t exactly the super debut he had imagined. 

Running by the pair of them, Ladybug held out her hands and a large spray can appeared in one and what looked like a butane torch materialized in the other. She flicked the torch on and brought it level with the spray can as the tree creature made to smash her with it’s heavy limbs. 

A gout of flame shot from Ladybug’s hands, igniting the massive tree, and it immediately reversed the direction of it’s swing, now trying to put distance between itself and the spotted pyro. But even as the thing fled, flailing wildly against the apartment buildings, Ladybug chased after it. She stopped her attack long enough to launch herself into the air, grasp a low hanging branch and swung herself up into it’s foliage. She disappeared from sight for only a couple of seconds before the tree’s leaves exploded in plumes of flame, a new one appearing ever second or two. 

The three on the ground watched as the tree flailed and somehow let out a scream as it burned from the inside. As the trees became a dance of flame, Ladybug dropped back to the ground, soot spotting her face, and she glared at Bunnyx. 

The Rabbit hero met her gaze with a blank stare. Before Ladybug could speak, she pointed to the sky. "Feather."

Activating her capture function, Ladybug broke her gaze long enough to turn, throw her yo-yo, and capture the feather. The massive living bonfire behind them dissolved, becoming a normal smoldering tree once again. Releasing the feather, she turned on Bunnyx, pointing an accusatory finger at her as she approached. “We should have had them!”

Chat felt extraordinarily out of place as he returned his staff to his back. He didn’t know what he should have been doing, and with how disjointed the whole dynamic between the four of them felt, he couldn’t help but feel wildly out of place. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn’t feel like he had any right to open his mouth. It was like being at one of his father’s fundraisers and watching the adults mingle. 

He didn’t belong here. 

Bunnyx barely reacted to Ladybug’s threatening demeanor. “We didn’t come here to help you catch them. We just made sure you didn’t get your ass handed to you.” 

Even inches from the rabbit hero, Ladybug held her finger pointed at her chest. Her hand twitched like she was restraining herself from strangling her. “I swear to god, Bunnyx. If you give me that bullshit about it not being time for me to do something again I’ll-”

Bunnyx scoffed. “You know you’re beautiful when you’re angry?” 

Ladybug’s mouth opened to reply, but her expression faltered. “What?”

The rabbit hero gave a cocky smile, “god, it’s easy to shut you up.”

Underneath her mask, a flush spread across Ladybug’s cheeks as she glared at Bunnyx. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

“Because,” she smiled. “It wasn’t time. There are things you need to do before you can take back those miraculous.” She shrugged, nodding to the two black cat wielders as they watched the exchange. “We just needed to make sure you made it out of the trap you ran wildly into.” 

Turning a sheepish look to Shadow Cat, Ladybug gave a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks for coming, Tomcat. I-” she swallowed, her gaze dropping to the ground. “I’m glad you were here.” 

“Sure,” the older black cat replied flatly. He rolled his eyes and turned to the Chat. 

From the corner of his eye, Chat watched as Ladybug reached across herself to rub her other arm. She chewed on her lip as she looked back to Bunnyx, her voice an almost inaudible mutter from where he stood. 

“Look,” Shadow Cat began. He shot a side glance at Ladybug before looking back to Chat. “I’m going to be honest with you here. Don’t count on her.” He shook his head, “maybe she changes from who I know her to be, but from what I saw tonight, it’s not much.” 

“But,” Chat shook his head, “how am I supposed to work with her if I can’t trust her? I mean that-”

“I didn’t say that.” He grimaced, “I just meant…” his shoulders sagged, and he let out a small sigh. “Look, if there’s one person in this world you can trust, it’s her. She’s good.” Shadow Cat scoffed, “she’s an incredible miraculous wielder, and I can’t imagine there being a better person to work with. But when the chips are down, and she gets scared or angry,” he shook his head, “she’ll sideline you in a heartbeat and forget about you. Just like she did there.” 

His stomach rolled, and Chat felt like he wanted to vomit. He’d seen Shadow Cat and Ladybug as such dependable and perfect heroes when he was young, it was hard to reconcile his youthful picture of them with knowing that it was wrong. 

But then, he supposed that was why people said you shouldn’t meet your heroes. 

“Well,” Chat started, “with my performance tonight, she’ll probably be pushing me aside quite a bit then.” He laughed humorlessly, holding up his hand to examine the ring. “I don’t why Fu gave me this.” 

Shadow Cat grabbed his shoulder roughly, “listen, he wouldn’t have given it to you if he didn’t think you could handle it. Yeah, you’re chosen and all that shit, but it’s up to you to find it in yourself to make sure you stay worthy of that faith.” He shook his head, “I know it’s a big thing to be given, and the first month is harder than hell to get used to. You’ll fail a lot more than you’ll succeed, believe me.” 

Somehow that didn’t make Chat feel any better about what happened. He’d still almost failed his teammates a half dozen times. His gaze dropped to the ground and, though he hated it, he couldn’t help feeling sorry for himself. 

Smiling, Shadow Cat went on. “I won’t lie, you’ve got a hell of an uphill climb. Most of us only ever start out dealing with petty criminals, and we usually get a lot more time to train and adjust to having the ring.” He shook his head, “fighting other miraculous users on your first trip out is no joke. I know you feel like you fucked up, but you held your own against seasoned miraculous wielders and their powers. That’s incredible for a newbie, and not a lot of us could say that.” He laughed, “I wouldn’t have lasted thirty seconds against Papillon on my first day.” 

“Thanks…” it did make him feel a little better to hear that. “This is all just so much. It’s hard to feel like I’ll get used to it.” 

“I know,” Shadow Cat nodded. “But she’ll work on training you soon. You’re going to have to learn fast. But…” he reached for one of the zippers on his suit and opened it, fishing out a slip of paper from the pocket and held it out for Chat. “Here, when you have the time, look me up if you ever need miraculous advice.” He glanced at the ground with a sheepish expression, “plus I’m sure I’ll be happy to see Plagg.” Shadow Cat laughed, “I love that little gremlin.” 

“Yeah,” Chat nodded. “I’ll do that.” He extended his opposite hand, “it was great to meet you. And,” he shrugged, “I’ll look you up in a couple of days.” 

As the former Black Cat holder shook his hand, Ladybug, now done chatting with Bunnyx, cleared her throat. She actually looked nervous. “Shadow Cat? Could we talk… before you go?”

In a blink, the easy smile was gone from his face as he closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine.” With that, he walked off a ways, waving goodbye over his shoulder at Chat Noir. “Good meeting you, newbie!”

Watching him walk away, Ladybug turned her eyes to Chat for a moment. “Sorry, I really need to speak with him-”

He replied just a little too quickly, “no, it’s okay!” It was only after he spoke that he realized he’d cut her off, and he could feel his resolve crumple a little further. “Sorry!” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “I’ll just go home.” 

As he grabbed his staff and turned away from her, she asked, “can you meet me tomorrow night on the roof of the Pantheon?” 

He replied over his shoulder, not quite able to bring himself to look back at her, “yeah, I can do that. Nine o’clock work for you?”

“Sure,” she said, with a slight hesitation. “Um… goodnight, Chat.”

With a last nod to Bunnyx, he flashed a quick peace sign over his shoulder, extended his staff, and vaulted away from the scene. 

In the pit of his stomach, he found himself worried that Ladybug would ask him to return his miraculous. She’d gone from angry to standoffish with little explanation in between, and that worried him as much as anything. He’d just started being a hero, and already he feared it would be ending soon. 

It took him a moment to get his bearings as he alternated between vaulting over the city and running the rooftops. Eventually he realized he was about to leave the thirteenth, and adjusted his course to take himself by Gabriel’s offices on his way home. 

As he ran, he saw a red flash in the distance from where he’d come. It reminded him of that healing swarm of Ladybugs he’d seen on the news the other day. 

He knew he should just go straight to bed, but he just had to see for himself if he was really in the past or not. He couldn’t just travel through time without seeing something weird to remember the occasion by. 

Other than meeting two of his childhood heroes, fighting off a giant spider, two superpowered villains, and a giant tree, that was. 

Once he’d arrived at the Gabriel building, Chat got himself as close to the wall as he could, and began extending the staff to raise himself up. He wasn’t sure how high it could go, but he intended to find out as he kept a hand on the wall to steady himself while the staff took him higher and higher. As he began to worry the thing would stretch itself thin and break like gum, he found himself peaking through the lower part of his office window. 

How much could his staff extend?

As curious as he was, the question was quickly gone from his mind as he saw a head of blonde hair recline in the chair on the other side of the glass. Chat’s eyes widened as he realized he was looking in on himself, and he glanced to see Plagg sitting on the desk to his past self’s left, munching on the last of his brie. 

The little kwami was staring at him curiously, and as he started to look to the other Adrien, Chat shook his head frantically, raising his free hand behind his head to give himself bunny ears like a child in a family photo. 

Plagg’s eyes widened for a second before he gave a small and quick nod of understanding. 

Shooting the kwami a quick thumbs up, Chat raised himself on his staff a little higher to get a better look at himself. The curiosity to actually catch a glimpse of his past self was just too much to ignore, and he grinned as he watched Adrien pick his nose for a second before going back to his paperwork. 

Knowing that Bunnyx could be watching from her burrow at any point in time suddenly had him resolving to drop that little habit. 

With a last glance at Plagg, who was curling up on the desk for his nap, Chat gave him a small wave as he closed his eyes. While his staff retracted, he laughed loudly and called up the building, “thanks for finishing those expense reports!” 

It was only a little after ten o’clock by the time he crawled through his bedroom window to get ready for bed that night. 

…

* * *

…

By the time Ladybug said goodbye to Shadow Cat and Bunnyx, she was feeling emotionally spent, and ready to fling herself into her bed for the night. She’d almost forgotten to send out her Ladybug swarm, and when she did, she made sure it only stayed within the area of the apartment complexes. 

She had no qualms about letting Mayura suffer through the healing process of that dislocated knee. 

Of course, she might have been feeling more sympathetic before then. But on top of everything else, having to patch up olds wounds so that her past self could eventually start the healing that would lead to hers and Shadow Cat’s better relationship was… far from anything she planned on doing that night. 

To say the least.

It had been so long since the rabbit themed wielder had popped up in her life, Ladybug had almost thought she was beyond her help. But like several times in the past, every time she got complacent, there Bunnyx was popping out of a portal ready to save her ass. 

The weird part though, was that it wasn’t always the same one. 

Sometimes she was younger, ruder, rougher, and rash in her actions. Others, the hero was older, sometimes appearing to be fifty years or more old. But the older she was, the more she was kind and focused on her goals. The one she’d seen this evening, the one in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, was the cockiest incarnation of Bunnyx, and Ladybug’s personal favorite. 

But weirder than seeing her at different ages every time she saw her, was that it had always been the same woman. Whether she was saving Marinette from an ambush eight thousand years ago, or Ladybug from having her miraculous stolen in tonight’s skirmish, she had never seen another rabbit miraculous wielder. 

It was just… her. 

Whoever she was. 

The most frustrating part was, while she appeared to know Ladybug’s identity, Marinette had no idea who the woman was, or even _when_ she was from. She had asked the Guardians about her, but even they had no idea as the Rabbit had been stolen from them within days of it’s creation. They suspected that it was the wielder herself who had taken it to give to her future self. Though how the original had obtained it and when she took it was something no one knew. 

She simply seemed to have it _because_ she had it. 

Bunnyx was an unknown, operating outside the bounds of the rules set by the temple, and yet somehow never opposing them either. Rather, she had shown up to help other miraculous wielders in times of need. But, while most never saw her at all, those who did only ever encountered her once. 

There had been a time when Ladybug had kept count of her encounters with the woman, but after more than two-hundred, and a few centuries between sightings, she had lost count.

As with Ladybug, the others always reported the same woman at varying ages. Though, from what she had heard, the younger Bunnyx was just as pleasant toward the other wielders as the older incarnations were to Ladybug. 

The young one had come to her rescue Marinette when she had been imprisoned as Jeanne d’Arc and saved her before being burned at the stake. She still never knew who it was who’d been burned in her place. 

But, even then, she had been short with her, and when Marinette tried to ask her why she didn’t like her, she’d only been told to fuck off and be grateful. At the time, the dialect was so odd compared to the French she knew in the fifteenth century, that it took several generations before she understood the word’s full meaning.

All she knew for certain was that the dialect spoken by the younger Bunnyx was a modern one, meaning she must have been given her miraculous some time within a hundred years of the current year. Though which side of that the hundred years fell, Marinette couldn’t be sure. 

Approaching the rooftop of the bakery, Marinette could see the lights were still on in the apartment below her room. She made a note to check on things there before passing out in bed. As she climbed through her skylight and collapsed bonelessly onto her mattress, she called for her transformation to drop. 

Tikki flew up to look at her with concern written plainly on her face. “You were really reckless tonight.” 

“I know,” she replied brusquely. Marinette looked away from her kwami toward the wall. Everything on her mind made it hard to focus. She had been so angry about the peacock and butterfly getting away, mad at herself for walking into an obvious trap, and frustrated that she had needed help to get out of it on her own. 

Relying on other people had been hard to do in the last couple of hundred years. Having to made her feel weak, no matter how irrational that was. She’d always relied on others, had known that she could never do things without a partner, a team, or a unit. But lately, she had just felt like she worked better alone. 

“You treated Chat Noir like shit,” her kwami said flatly. 

Marinette groaned, shoving the heels of her palms into her eye sockets. “I know, _I know_!” She sighed, pressing her hands into her eyes hard enough to see patterns forming behind her eyelids. “I didn’t _mean_ to be such a bitch,” she muttered.

Beyond her blocked vision, Tikki scolded, “you remember what Wang told you about this one, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Marinette grumbled, watching black and white squares dance on her eyelids. “Be nice to them,” she mocked, “g **e** t t **o** k **no** w th **e** m.” She scoffed, “well, I fucked that right up.”

Tikki bristled, “Marinette-”

She knew that tone, and she knew what expression it usually came with. Marinette snapped, “don’t you roll your eyes at me, you anime-eyed little shit!” 

The kwami huffed in front of her, her tone even as she asked, “are you done being a bitch, yet?”

Marinette was quiet for a long moment. She watched colors pop behind her eyes like fireworks before mumbling like a petulant child, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Well,” Tikki’s tone was clipped and even in that way that told Marinette she’d hurt her feelings. “When you do, I’ll be downstairs.” 

Waiting several minutes to hear anything else, she finally stopped pressing on her closed eyes and waited for the pain to subside as her vision came back into focus. Marinette peered over the railing of her bed, but Tikki was nowhere to be seen. 

“Fuck me,” she muttered as she flopped back down on her bed.

The encounter with Papillon had seriously rattled her, and the appearance of Bunnyx wasn’t exactly a comforting addition to it. She only ever showed up when Marinette’s death, or something equally terrible, was imminent. Without her and the guys’ help, she knew she would have lost her miraculous. 

And all because she had allowed herself to walk into an obvious trap laid by a madman whom she should have known not to trust in the first place. She was definitely angry, but it wasn’t at Chat, nor Tikki. 

It was herself she was mad at for allowing it to happen. 

After all these years she had hoped too much for a quick and clean end to her problems. But she should have known it wouldn’t be so easy.

God, both of the missing miraculous were _right there_. Almost two-hundred years and they had literally been feet from her, and she’d let them slip away. 

It wasn’t just that though. 

It was the uncertain way the whole situation was being presented in the media, and the stress of starting her new job on top of it didn’t help. 

It was Fu waiting so long to give her a new partner. 

It was the thought of having to train that new partner in the face of everything that was happening.

It was having to make up with her old partner now, so that her past self could finally move beyond their problems that had plagued their relationship. 

It was the recurring lump in her throat, and repressing the anxiety that Saturday’s akuma brought on. 

It was the unwelcome memories brought on by that encounter that amplified the feeling, making her feel helpless, and raised an itch just under her skin that she could never quite scratch. 

All of it piled up in her mind until it felt like she was suffocating, and it was all she could do to keep herself from being buried under the weight of it. 

Chat didn’t deserve to be treated like a child for her feelings. Nor did Tikki deserve the abuse she tried to heap on her to deflect from how Marinette was feeling. She had lashed out at her ally, her friend, when all she wanted was to berate herself for not being a more competent person after eleven millenia. 

Dragging herself off of her bed, Marinette managed to make herself finish sketching her ideas, even if she was a little distracted from the task at hand. She had to have something to present to Gabriel the next day, and tired as she was, she couldn’t fall asleep yet. Especially when she had hurt Tikki in her misdirected anger. 

After another hour of work, Marinette finally felt her mood evening out enough that she didn’t think she would lash out at anyone who didn’t deserve it again. 

When she went down the ladder to find her kwami, she saw Tikki curled up fast asleep on Tom’s belly as the man snoozed on the couch. His head was lolled back against the cushions as he snored lightly. It was _well_ passed the older baker’s bedtime. A bit of guilt tugged at her at the thought that he had waited up so long for her. 

Approaching quietly, she gently prodded Tikki awake. The kwami opened her eyes and stared at Marinette with a raised eyebrow. Her expression asked, ‘are you feeling better?’

Nodding, Marinette muttered, “I’m sorry, Teeks.”

Lighting off of Tom, Tikki rose to bump her forehead against Marinette’s cheek. She smiled as she pulled away. “I know,” she whispered. 

Glancing down at Tom, her kwami’s eye followed her’s as she asked, “should we tuck the big guy in?”

Tikki nodded in reply and they ducked back upstairs so Marinette could call for her transformation. 

Ladybug descended the ladder quietly, and looked at Tom for a good way to pick him up. After taking a moment to get her hand position right, she easily lifted the significantly larger man, and started for the door. He nestled his head on her shoulder as she carried him, a contented smile playing across his face. 

For a moment it made her remember her own children and the way they would lay their cheeks on her shoulder when they were young and sleepy. 

Before so many of them had become monsters. 

Thinking of them made her heart ache, and she buried the memory as fast as it rose.

Tom only stirred a little as Ladybug walked down the stairs to the middle floor where Tom and Sabine’s bedroom was. Opening the door was a little tricky, but this was far from the first time she had carried Tom to bed after he had fallen asleep on the couch. The man overestimated his ability to stay awake, and once he was out, he was out until his alarm dragged him back to consciousness. 

After moving the blankets back with her foot, Ladybug placed Tom into the bed and began covering him again. Next to him, Sabine stirred a little and cracked an eye open to see the spotted hero tucking her husband in. She gave a sleepy smile and slurred a tired, “thank you,” as she shuffled over to cuddle up against the large man’s side. 

She was out again as soon as her hand laid on his chest. 

Ladybug watched the pair sleep for a moment, envy bubbling up in her heart, before she turned to go back upstairs. 

The next day wasn’t much better than the night had been. Work flew by in a haze of awkward isolation in the design department where Marinette tucked herself into a corner with an open drafting table. Apparently Gabriel had taken Nathalie to the hospital that morning after she had slipped in the shower and broken her leg. 

That was what Adrien had said at least when she’d seen him for two minutes that morning. He’d been distracted by whatever slack he was picking up in his father’s absence and had barely looked up from the tablet he carried. 

As she scratched out ideas for her designs, Marinette tried to stamp down the secret hope she’d had that seeing Adrien would make her feel better before she had to face Chat Noir that night. She only prayed that her luck would turn around by the time she met with her new partner. 

The last thing she needed was to alienate another Black Cat.

…

* * *

…

Standing on the roof waiting, Chat paced back and forth, worried about why Ladybug had wanted to meet here. All day he’d been so distracted at work, he’d barely had time to think about it. It had taken all of his focus and effort just to be able to make it to meet her tonight. Had he done so badly that she wanted him to give his miraculous back? She'd been so cross with him during the fight, and he couldn't blame her. He'd put them in danger by being hesitant, nervous, and trying to show off. 

He was new to this, and should have been less impulsive. He should have trusted her and let her take the lead. Try as he might not to, Chat hadn’t been able to fight how cocky he’d been. He wanted, _needed_ to prove himself in that fight, and he’d nearly fucked it up for both of them. Granted, he had done better fighting Papillon, but that was only once he had left her. If they couldn’t fight together, then it would all be over before it began. 

And Ladybug needed a partner she could count on, not someone who would just try to showboat and get them both put in danger. 

He could feel his breath pick up and it took everything in him to push the panic down to a minimum, but it was hard. Chat was faced with everything he ever wanted, and in just a few moments he had screwed it all up. 

Shadow Cat’s words came back to him, and made him feel a little better at least. He made a mental note to find time to meet the man soon. A mentor sounded perfect to help him along.

He jumped as a red figure landed on the rooftop in front of him, and Chat reeled backward in surprise. He’d been so in his own head he hadn’t even noticed her approaching. 

Giving an awkward wave, she smiled at him as she rose to her full height which… admittedly, wasn’t saying much. He could easily make out the cityscape behind her, he was so much taller than her. 

Why hadn’t he noticed that earlier? 

Ladybug was short as fuck. 

She’d always been such a titanic figure in his mind that it was hard to reconcile that vision of her with this short, sheepishly smiling girl in front of him. 

Seeing her made his heart hammer against his ribs almost as badly as Marinette did.

“Hi, Chat.” Her gaze wavered and fell to the rooftop between them, her waving hand falling to nervously rub her other wrist. 

“Hi,” he muttered. Oh god, here it came. She was going to ask for his miraculous back. If nothing else, the regret on her face was adora-

With a heavy effort, he drove the thought from his mind. Now wasn’t the time. 

Both started.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry.” 

Blinking in surprise, Chat opened his mouth, and closed it again. He tried again. “Uh… why are _you_ sorry?”

Looking as taken aback as he felt, Ladybug shook her head. “Wha- why?” She scoffed, “Chat I was a total bitch when you had gotten thrown fresh into the deep end and were told to swim.” The spotted hero shrugged, “you didn’t deserve that, and I should have treated you better.” 

If he was honest, it was no different than what growing up had been like. His parents had often scolded him for simply being new and bad at something, and like then, he had expected to be punished for it. 

But being apologized to… well… that one was pretty new. 

He started dumbly back, not sure what to say.

Her teeth tugged nervously at her bottom lip before she continued. “Everything has been _so_ hard since I lost Shadow Cat, and I've been begging for a new partner forever." She sighed, "You'd think I would have been grateful to see you…" She shook head, "I was stressed, and scared that I was going to lose. I was angry with myself for walking into that without backup. It was no excuse to have treated you that way.” She smiled weakly, “and I’m sorry.” Her eyes narrowed as she cocked an eyebrow at him, her face scrunching in confusion. “Why are _you_ sorry?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, he couldn’t quite bring himself to meet her eye. “Failing to impress your childhood hero kinda fucks with you, you know?” He laughed nervously, “and an ever-present fear of rejection or failing to live up to people’s expectations doesn’t hurt either.”

She sighed as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again. Ladybug tried again, not quite meeting his eye. “I really need you in this fight, Chat. Judging by how things have gone already, it’s going to be really difficult and…” There was almost a look of fear in her eyes. “I don’t want to start us on the wrong foot like this.” She shrugged, “can we maybe… start over?”

“Uh…” He quickly nodded, eager for a do-over. “Please?” Chat grinned, "our first meeting was a _paws_ itively _claw_ ful _tail_."

Across from him she only stared, letting out a long breath from between pursed lips. “Are you really going to start the first time we’re meeting with puns?”

“Only _good_ ones,” he grinned. In the back of his mind he was screaming at himself to dial it back, but he was so nervous! It was hard to keep himself from saying the first thing that came to mind. 

Staring at him, Ladybug popped her lips with an unreadable expression. Finally, she started toward him.

Butterflies danced in his stomach as she approached. All he could think was how the image on his work computer didn’t do her justice. He thought of how her browned skin, almond eyes, and lithe, muscular body were even more stunning in person. 

The first time he’d met her as a child, he hadn’t been able to properly appreciate her beauty, but as he’d clutched himself close to her he’d been overwhelmed by her scent. Chat had never forgotten the way she smelled of a mixture of flowers, strawberry, and vanilla. Since then, every time he smelled any of those individual scents, he’d thought of her. 

Even as she stood before him, he could smell those scents again, his senses amplified by his miraculous, and it was intoxicating. He swallowed thickly as she stood only a couple of feet away, her hand extended, and a gentle smile on her face. 

“Hello, Chat Noir.” Ladybug’s head inclined slightly, “I’m Ladybug. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

Looking back, he blamed his overwhelmed senses, but as he took her hand, he found himself sweeping into a low bow, rotating her hand so that the top of it was flat in front of him. His left hand extended with a flourish behind him while his lips laid a kiss on the back of her gloved hand before he looked up at her, his voice low as he said, “the pleasure is all mine, M’lady.” 

There was a beat, and the two remained fixed, eyes locked for too brief a moment. For just a second, Ladybug’s jaw began to open before she cleared her throat and pulled her hand back. Chat thought that her cheeks had begun to redden, but before he could see for sure, she turned her back on him and took two steps away. 

Chat’s eyes widened in alarm as he righted his posture, his arms jammed firmly down at his sides. Why had he done that?! They were just starting to be friendly! He could overcome this, right? Was it possible for them to start over again, _again_?

As he opened his mouth to say _anything,_ Ladybug cleared her throat. “We uh... “ she paused for a moment. “We should get you up to speed on what we’re facing.” 

"Oh," he gulped. "Uh… yeah." He nodded, feeling relieved that she didn't sound upset. "Know thy enemy and all that!" Chat laughed nervously.

She gave a curt shake of her head and turned to him. Her expression was neutral once again, a faint dusting of pink visible under the edges of her mask.

If not for Chat's enhanced vision, he'd never have seen it. Seeing that fading blush though, he suddenly felt a small spike in his confidence, the butterflies subsiding slightly.

Did Ladybug really find his nervous slips _charming_?

He hung on her every word as she explained the butterfly and peacock miraculous' and how long she had been looking for them. In the back of his mind, he realized how old that made her and resolved to ask her about it. 

But not now. 

He had the rest of his tenure as Chat Noir to get to know her. For now, he needed know all that he could if he had any hope of surviving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait! 
> 
> Again, sorry it took so long to get out. I feel really bad about that :(
> 
> Idk why this chapter took me so long to write tbh. It's not like it was particularly dense or anything. I still can't believe that I had to split 9 into two chapters though :P that's longwinded even for me lol and the fact that this one ALSO ended up being over 10,000 words… doesn’t bode well for my self restraint ^.^;
> 
> But yeah! I hope Ladybug and Chat's first meeting was good for y'all ^.^ I thought the juxtaposition of Chat being nervous around Ladybug and Marinette being nervous around Adrien was fun to play with. Especially with the awkward reciprocation of both lol 
> 
> How did you feel about Shadow Cat and the chip on his shoulder? I know a lot of you thought it would be Nino coming in, but hopefully he was a fun one to meet ^.^ I’ve mentioned him so much in passing that I had to get him involved somehow with the story. So yay! We have our first OC for this fic! 
> 
> The bit with Papillon and Mayura post fight got pushed to next chapter. So, sorry if you were looking forward to that! We’re going to get a look at his and the Peacock wielder’s civilian selves in the first section though (Gasp! I wonder who they could be?! :O).
> 
> Exploring their relationship and how Emilie ties into it is a pretty interesting one for me. Tbh I've kind of always headcanoned a poly relationship between the three of them lol but I'm actually writing it out for the first time, so it's kinda fun ^.^ 
> 
> Oh yeah! How do you guys feel about Bunnyx and the little thought blurb about her from Marinette? She's… going to be a fairly important character in this story for reasons that will shortly become apparent ;P 
> 
> Speaking of, we're going to be meeting a new character by the name of Alix next chapter :O I've been SO EXCITED to get her in this mess!!!!! <3 of course you all will probably just want to throw things at me for her.
> 
> But hey.
> 
> *jazz hands* That's show biz, baby! :D 
> 
> So, like I said, I won't PROMISE a chapter next week, but let's keep our fingers crossed, yeah? I've got a solid chunk of it started (may have written a solid third of that chapter already instead if writing this chapter ^.^;) and like I said. I'm hella excited for it!
> 
> But next chapter, we look inside the mind a villain, Alya does a little more research, shares her findings with Marinette, Chat and Ladybug get faked out, and it's concert time ;D 
> 
> We’re probably in for another long af chapter… SO THAT’S PROBABLY THE NORM NOW!! *facepalm*
> 
> See y'all later! <3


	11. Expect the Unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathalie has _knee_ ds. The fantastic four grab lunch. Papillon experiments while Chat puns. Marinette meets floor. Adrien rides an emotional roller coaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! In your inbox! 
> 
> What’s that?! 
> 
> Could it be…? 
> 
> No. 
> 
> It’s not possible…
> 
> But it is! 
> 
> A chapter only two weeks later?! 
> 
> Is it witchcraft?? A soul sold to the devil?! A trick of the light?!
> 
> I mean… maybe? But chances are good you haven’t fallen into a coma and dreamed about an update. 
> 
> If you have though? I’m flattered ^.^ 
> 
> Also… **Wake up o.o your family misses you!**
> 
> But holy cow the chapter I posted last week got over 1000 hits in it’s first week, and that’s WAY better than any chapter before it has E V E R done! So that was exciting ^.^ Thank you so much for the kudos, love love love the comments! There were a couple of you who left longer ones that I desperately wanted to reply to but didn’t get the chance unfortunately D: I’m sorry! But I appreciate them nonetheless! 
> 
> Omgosh and seeing the number of people subscribed and bookmarked (I see you private bookmarkers ;D) is incredible! I love that so many people are interested in this story, and not _JUST_ because it does wonders for my ego xD It’s exciting seeing so many care about this, and I really appreciate each and every one of you <3
> 
> You know what’s kinda hilarious? The day after I posted the last chapter, the fam went for a bike ride (I rode 20 miles total because I went to get us treats from the bakery after) and I totally spaced stretching my legs. The next day, after posting a chapter where Nathalie got her knee kicked out of place, my knee kept trying to go out of place in solidarity because my muscles were so fucking tight my leg couldn’t function xD 
> 
> It was pretty fucking sick. I hated every second, and it took _D A Y S_ to get my knee stretched out again and functioning lol oh and my wife is completely laid out because her allergies and allergy meds are keeping her passed out most of the day right now. 
> 
> Rip to her, but I’m different. 
> 
> So I’ve had massive kid time the last couple weeks, hence the lack of replying to long comments! See? We made it back around. It’s all connected! 
> 
> Like a root system! :D
> 
> I guess? 
> 
> Oh my god, speaking of my son, he smashed his finger in a cabinet today and broke his nail ;_; the poor little guy screamed for almost an hour while we held, cleaned, and bandaged him, and then rebandaged him after he bled through the first. Seeing your kid bleed fucks with you O.o
> 
> ANYWAY! I was super excited about this chapter and like I said before, I’ve been wanting to get it out forever! Alix is here, Papillon is plotting, the duo is together. 
> 
> It would have been out last week, but I had a lot of trouble with the second section. It just wouldn’t come out right for some reason. 
> 
> Oh yeah, and I made a couple of small retcons in the previous chapters. One was in chapter 5 where Papillon mentions being warned by his father about the Order. That was just an error and I meant it to be his father in-law, so that’s fixed. The other was the date on the picture of Ladybug when Alya was researching. The date was off for my timeline I have for Marinette’s life and I needed to bump it up like 20 years for it to properly fit. 
> 
> This chapter also ended up being over 13k words and I think has just taken the top spot for longest yet x.x
> 
> But with that out of the way, ladies, gentlemen, enbys, and ya’ll? We’re officially out of our setup, and hitting the first plot arc! 
> 
> Can I get an amen?! 
> 
> Also maybe a, ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS HAS ALL BEEN INTRODUCTION?!’
> 
> To which I will answer, “this bitch thicc. Next question.” 
> 
> Anyway! Here you go! Love it, hate it, this is the road we’re taking! 
> 
> Buckle up, kids ;D

_**Previously, in The Lonely Heart of Creation;**  
Papillon and Mayura had Ladybug cornered, and her loss was imminent when she was saved by the combined efforts of her new partner Chat Noir, her old partner Shadow Cat, and the everpresent figure in her long life Bunnyx._

_Chat Noir did his best to keep up but struggled on his first real outing as a hero. Shadow Cat offered his assistance in Adrien's future endeavors before returning with Bunnyx._

_Marinette is rash and made several poor choices in anger. She resolved to work on her relationship with Chat Noir after having blocked out several Black Cats before him._

_Nathalie and Gabriel were absent from the office the following day for "unrelated reasons" to the akuma attack._

_Ladybug and Chat met up the next night to reintroduce themselves and start off on the right foot._

_The next day..._

"...the doctor said it should heal fine-" Nathalie winced as she sat down on the edge of her bed. Her nostril twitched, and she grimaced before continuing. "But for the time being, I need to wear this brace and…" she sighed, clutching her towel tightly around herself. Her hair still dripped as she gestured to the black medical brace on her bedside table. "I need help getting it on, because this hurts like hell."

Looking at Nathalie's leg, Gabriel felt a stab of sympathy as he kneeled in front of her. He nodded, "of course, Nathalie." She'd been too eager to rush in and had underestimated their enemy. But he couldn't blame her for her recklessness. It had only been her second time donning the Peacock, as they hadn't wanted to risk the sickness it would induce taking her too soon.

But the black and purple bruise that encircled the joint would serve as an easy reminder for her to not attempt something so foolish again. Not to mention the pain, the months long healing time, and the physical therapy that the injury would require to heal properly. She'd just been lucky she'd been transformed when it happened, or it could have been a lot worse. 

Not quite meeting his eye as she sighed in relief, Nathalie's shoulders slumped forward in an uncharacteristic display of bad posture. "Thank you, Gabriel," she muttered. 

Asking for help was never one of her strong suits, and as long as he had known her, Gabriel had rarely ever seen her be vulnerable in front of him when Emilie wasn’t also present. Her loss had made the two of them closer in many ways as they desperately figured out how to get her back. 

Fortunately for Nathalie, she would not be needed again in the field for some time. 

Nor would he for that matter. 

Though they had failed to acquire the Ladybug miraculous, their purpose had been served nonetheless. Now, with the Black Cat drawn out, the important pieces were in play and it was time to begin the second phase of their plan. 

But there was one thing that nagged him. 

While he carefully helped Nathalie with the brace, he spoke to his kwami. "Nooroo? You mentioned before that the Rabbit Miraculous is capable of... time travel?" That night he had stumbled into the foyer with Nathalie, they'd barely made it home before Gabriel's transformation had dropped.

He'd been in a less than savory mood for their miserable defeat, and having been so close to taking both Miraculous. Chat Noir prone in front of him as he’d been, Gabriel had to make a decision between taking his ring and potentially being caught outnumbered by Shadow Cat, Ladybug, and the Rabbit, or fleeing to fight another day. They'd come so close to losing everything, and he had demanded to know how they had come to face two Black Cat wielders and the strange Rabbit on top of Ladybug. 

From somewhere over his shoulder, Nooroo replied in his ever even tone, "I did." The little creature was often annoyingly to the point without offering any additional details.

Before, when Nooroo had mentioned time travel, Gabriel was in no mood for such nonsense before sending their kwamis off to find food. Nathalie had been faint as they made their way back home, and he got her to bed almost immediately. He’d lain down next to her to rest before he too had succumbed to sleep. 

Creating two akuma in one night had exhausted him, each of his creations drawing from his own energy reserves. 

But, such was the price of the Butterfly. It was a demanding miraculous, requiring immense physical stamina to maintain a champion, while needing a strong degree of mental discipline to stave off the emotional bombardment of those around him for several kilometers. 

It had taken him over a decade to master it.

The Peacock was nearly identical in its demands of the wielder, and made using it that much more strenuous in it's damaged state. Other than Nathalie’s reckless charge at Ladybug, which Gabriel attributed to her being overwhelmed with the emotional burden of her miraculous, she had done well. And she was fortunate enough to be a completely healthy individual while using it. 

Emilie had been far less lucky in her physical health.

Nathalie winced, sucking air through her teeth as he tightened a strap too far. 

He muttered, "I’m sorry, Nathalie." Trying again with his kwami, Gabriel asked, "would it be possible for us to acquire this miraculous instead of Ladybug's and the Black Cat?" Time travel would be easier to maneuver, and they could simply keep Emilie's miraculous from ever being damaged in the first place.

Nooroo took a moment to answer. "I am afraid it would be next to impossible, Gabriel." He came around to face his wielder while he worked. "The Rabbit Miraculous has not been in the guardian's possession almost since it's creation."

Above them, Nathalie asked, "it was taken as well?"

"That…" Nooroo paused, considering his answer. "It is a matter of debate."

Having little patience for his kwami's maddening neutrality, he looked to Duusu as he hovered worriedly over Nathalie's shoulder. "Can you elaborate on his meaning?"

The kwami of the Butterfly and Peacock were polar opposites. Where Nooroo was in a near constant state of Zen focus and control, Duusu wore his emotions on his sleeve, and his moods shifted rapidly with the feeling of those around them. 

Duusu nodded with a massive grin, "of course, Cheese Curd!" The kwami had picked up Emilie's various pet names for him years ago and had never used anything but. She'd shortened Gabriel to Brie, and had extrapolated that from Cheesy, into Cheese Curd because, quote, 'your foul moods could curdle milk.'

God, he missed her. 

Nathalie's hand silently slid over his, giving a small squeeze of sympathy in support. He could feel his own sense of loss reflected in her. They both missed Emilie in their lives more than either could express in words. They shared a knowing glance as Duusu spoke.

"The Rabbit wielder is SUPER mysterious!" Looking left and right as though checking for listeners, he went on. "There's only ever been one, and her appearances are few and far between through the millennia." 

Spinning in place, Duusu outstretched his arms as he picked up speed and became a blue blur. "The guardians think she came and took the miraculous to hide until she could give it to herself later on in the future." 

The kwami started flying in a circle between Gabriel and Nathalie, and it steadily grew until Duusu started ping-ponging around the flight path. Somehow the kwami kept enough speed to stay a constant blue blur as he did it. 

He continued, "she constantly pops in and out of time! Sometimes she's older like you, Cheesy, and other times she's young and spry, like Adrien!" Duusu suddenly stopped, eyes rolling in their sockets as a bubbly giggle worked it's way out of him. "Everyone she's ever helped has always described the same girl you saw the other night, no matter how many years it's been!" 

As quickly as the Peacock had just been moving, his face suddenly fell, and he looked between the two of them sadly. Duusu too knew the familiar sensation of Nathalie and Gabriel's pain, and had been just as much affected by Emilie's loss. "Oh," he whispered. "Umm…" his voice was quiet now, barely above a mumble as he finished, "and the worst part is no one even knows where to look for her because no one knows who she is, or when she's even from."

Nathalie reached out for the sad little kwami, and he nestled into her cupped hands in a small ball. She raised him to her face and nuzzled him to her cheek. On top of feeling her loss on his own, Duusu also had to bear the brunt of feeling her loss across all of them. He had barely spoken in the first several months that Emilie hadn't woken up. 

The little kwami curled into the crook of Nathalie’s neck and quietly nestled there as Gabriel asked, “and our chances of seeing her again in our lifetimes would be…?”

Next to him, Nooroo replied evenly, “slim to none.” He almost sounded bored as he explained, “she sometimes goes two-hundred years or more between sightings, and even then, her motivation for appearing is unclear.” The butterfly kwami floated over to Duusu, cuddling up next to him on Nathalie’s shoulder supportively. “Though, given our conflict with Ladybug and Chat Noir, the odds are higher that we might see her again.” He gently rubbed the Peacock kwami’s back, adding, “she seems to appear to help Ladybug specifically more than anyone else.” 

“I see,” Gabriel muttered. He did his best to ignore the rising frustration in his chest. 

Finishing with the brace, Gabriel rose to his feet as Nathalie sheepishly muttered, “thank you, Gabriel.” 

“Of course.” He cleared his throat nervously as he glanced toward the door. “I’ll umm… leave so that you can dress.” With that, he turned on his heel and made for the door. He felt Nooroo land on his shoulder as he left the room.

While Gabriel and Nathlie weren’t extraordinarily close, it was not as if they hadn’t been nude around one another or been involved in intimate exchanges themselves. But it had only ever been when Emilie was… conscious. Without her present, somehow their relationship felt like… a violation. 

They still worked together just fine, and neither blamed the other for their loss of her. But being with one another made them realize how little of themselves they would have shared with the other if not for their partner. 

They were friends yes, and they shared a bond with one another like they had with no one short of their wife. And while they were still there to comfort and help one another, their relationship had no less become strained in their grief. Navigating the world in Emilie’s absence had become difficult, especially when knowing that she was still alive, in a sense. 

Indeed, she was still alive in the lower floors of the house, and the two alternated caring for her bodily needs. At one time, there had been a series of nurses when they still had hopes that she would awaken. But eventually, they had decided to try their own methods. With an amok, it was all too easy to publicly announce her as dead to cover up their efforts, and continued to care for her themselves. 

Changing IVs, emptying her catheter’s drainage bag, and administering liquid food through her feeding tube among other tasks were theirs to share. It was not uncommon to find either of them asleep while holding her hand, their heads resting on her lap. They still tried to give one another their time with her, though they were uncertain of whether or not Emilie could hear them.

In truth, Gabriel and Nathalie hated the lengths they had decided on to revive her. But there was nothing else they could think, or agree, to do. And much as he knew the Guardian’s could help, Nathalie had been adamant about not trusting their assistance. A part of him shared her fear, but after they had fought about it for the dozenth time, he knew he had to support her. 

If only because it was what Emilie would have wanted of them. 

She would not want to see them fighting over her as they had been. But nonetheless, it had been a major reason for the strain his and Nathalie’s relationship had come under in the last few years. Some things could not be taken back once said, and they had both hurt one another in their grief. 

And so they had become the villains of the story. 

Gabriel was not blind to that fact. He knew that what they were attempting was wrong, as Nathalie did. But what else could they do? With no other course that they trusted, they had to hope that they could turn the opinion of the public against Ladybug, and in their favor. They knew it was possible that Emilie would never forgive them, but if bringing her back lost her to them in the process… well… at least she would be able to pursue her happiness without them. 

They had already discussed the eventuality of Emilie leaving them and… they were prepared for it. She was too good a person to stay with them after they had turned to such monstrous actions. But, nonetheless, there was nothing they wouldn’t do for her, even if it meant her ire. 

It was why Adrien knew nothing of their actions. In the event of Emilie’s departure of them, he would be the remaining family with which she would have to turn. And even then, how could they explain the kwami’s to him, much less their abilities? They had been so paranoid in their ownership of their Miraculous that they had kept the kwami’s out of his sight at all times, for fear of the child spreading stories of his parent’s magical flying pets. 

If word were to ever reach the Guardians of their possession, they knew their retribution would be swift, as evidenced by Fukushima. What had been a business trip to the opening of the Tokyo branch of Gabriel, had become a rescue effort as the earthquake and subsequent tsunami rocked Japan. With the power of their miraculous, they could sense the fear, the panic, the desperation of those trapped by the disaster and did their best to help the victims.

They had only been trying to help… and it had become the beginning of their problems with the Peacock. 

Miraculous wielders had attacked them without warning as they attempted to help trapped workers in the nuclear plant, and the resulting fight had left Emilie severely hurt. Their attackers had launched a nuclear fuel rod at her when she was transformed, and it had struck her miraculous, causing damage that was beyond them to repair. 

The best they could figure was that the miraculous had been… stuck in the ‘on’ position, for lack of better terminology. Even when detransformed, Emilie had continued to feel drained as though she were not. She often became weary, falling unconscious, having dizzy spells, and endless nausea. The strain had grown for over four years, and in that time she had not been able to transform for long without falling ill for days afterward. Eventually she stopped using the miraculous altogether, and Duusu became little more than her companion. 

Not that the little kwami minded. He had always been incredibly fond of Emilie, and openly blamed himself for her sickness. His comfort was the least he could do, he'd told them. 

She’d suffered through and beaten a cancer diagnosis when Adrien was very young, and one of her lungs had to be removed to stop it’s spread after chemotherapy failed. Emilie had been weaker after, and the cancer had managed to return two other times. She’d spent a number of years in and out of various therapies and hospitals in an effort to keep it’s return and spread under control. 

If anything, the peacock was all that ever held her together. It was a large part of why they had never thought to return the miraculous to the guardians. The story went that Emilie’s family had been a part of an allied force of French and English soldiers that had stormed the Order in the late eighteen hundreds. Apparently, her great grandfather had managed to walk away with both of them. 

Since then, they had been passed down through her family until they came into her possession. She and Gabriel had known one another since they were young, and were sure of their soul bond long before it became apparent. She’d given him the butterfly in good faith when they were seventeen, telling him that even if they weren’t, the jewels would always bond them. 

She and Nathalie later met in University in Germany while Gabriel was pursuing his own studies in Paris. When they were reunited, he had trouble accepting that his mate could have another, and it had been a source of strain between the three of them. But eventually, he and Nathalie stopped butting heads, and became friends. 

During Emilie's pregnancy, they'd been worried Nathalie would feel disconnected and shut out, but she had only ever been happy for them. She'd always wanted the chance to be a mother as well. 

Nathalie was there, eager to help them raise Adrien, and be a part of his life. The two of them had admittedly needed all the help they could get, and were more than grateful for it. Their connections to their miraculous had made both Gabriel and Emilie emotionally stunted in their own ways and it had caused a certain disconnect with their young son. Where Gabriel was often controlled and laser focused to the point of insensitivity for boys needs, Emilie was manic and at times, emotionally unstable without regard for how her outbursts affected those around her. 

If not for Nathalie, Gabriel was certain the state would have taken their son from them for emotional neglect. Adrien had no idea exactly how much he owed to Nathalie for having as decent a childhood he did. In a lot of ways, she was the most stable parental figure in his life, though mostly from the background. 

She often guided Gabriel and Emilie through more effective parenting strategies and helped them through many decisions. It had been her advice that allowed Adrien to finally attend a public school with his peers, as she was worried for his social development. 

Unfortunately, even now, Adrien seemed to only hold a detached resentment for her. Gabriel knew that it hurt her to be so rejected by him. He'd felt as much from her often. Though it was clear enough in her eyes when she looked at him, she was much too proud to admit the maternal bond she felt toward the boy. 

But it wasn't just in raising their son.

Nathalie had been there for every step of their lives, and was now as inseparable a figure in his mind as his wife was. Gabriel loved Nathalie, not quite in the way he did Emilie, but he did all the same. And he knew that Nathalie felt similarly for him.

Together, they supported Emilie through her illness, and were there for her and for each other through all their days, good and bad. 

When terrorists attacked Paris, they, together with an akumatized Nathalie, had gone to stop the chaos. Emilie thought nothing of what the transformation would cost her, and had insisted that they help. It had been reported that Ladybug was out of the country, and that Shadow Cat had retired some months prior. 

She’d insisted they were the only ones left who could help, and Gabriel and Nathalie were never ones to deny her anything. 

So they’d gone to help. 

But when Emilie collapsed, they thought of nothing but returning her to safety. They would not have been able to live with themselves if she had been hurt while they played hero. Even in trying to protect her though, they knew they had failed in their efforts. 

She never woke up, and the pair had barely left her bedside for weeks after they had taken her to the hospital. 

Nooroo’s voice broke through the haze. “Gabriel?” There was a touch of concern in his otherwise unreadable expression. “Will you be alright?”

He nodded, “I will. Thank you, Nooroo.” Though the kwami seemed to be emotionless, Gabriel knew otherwise, and was grateful for his support. It had taken him several years to see that his indifference was more a careful guard he had constructed to protect himself from the emotions that constantly assaulted him. Despite that, the kwami emoted quite a bit and showed his care and affection, albeit in his own subtle ways. 

But Gabriel had learned to read them, and had felt his kwami rub off on him as well. He had learned to be more mindful and centered because of Nooroo, his outward appearance portraying more stoicism than what he'd showed in his youth. 

“I have been thinking…” Gabriel started. 

The kwami quirked an eyebrow, “yes?” 

An irritating flash of red passed through Gabriel's memory. “Ladybug’s… swarm-”

“Her Miracle Cure?” Nooroo corrected. 

“ _That_ ,” Gabriel sighed. “It is going to be a problem to disrupt her public image if she is able to undo our work against her.” He knew that it would mean people would be put in harms way for real, but he had to know, nonetheless. “Is there a way that we can counter it?”

A small hum issued from Nooroo’s throat before he spoke. “For the things you do yourself? No.”

“Hmmph,” Gabriel ground his teeth in annoyance. 

“But,” Nooroo supplied a moment later. “For our akuma? And Nathlie’s amok?” He nodded. “There is a deceptively simple way to counter it.” 

Rolling his eyes at his kwami, Gabriel held back a smile. Nooroo may have conveyed a blank front in all that he said and did, but the little kwami did _so_ love to be dramatic when he could. “How?”

...

* * *

…

Waiting for their friends to show up, Alya rubbed her thumb over Nino’s as they sat perusing their menus at Mam Thai. Marinette and Adrien were supposed to be joining them any time from Gabriel now, though they had already been waiting for several minutes.

Trying to get a hold of either of them the last couple of days had been next to impossible for both her _and_ Nino. Normally they could at least force a message out of Adrien if they just bugged him enough, and Marinette usually messaged them back within a couple of hours. Setting up lunch between them wouldn’t have happened if Marinette hadn’t accidentally called Nino the day before. 

If she didn’t know they were both ridiculously hard workers, she would have sworn that they were having a secret relationship. It really wouldn’t be all that surprising given the way that they tended to look at one another. 

Suddenly the front door of the restaurant burst open, surprising several patrons as the door clattered loudly against the wall. The bells attached to the interior push rail jangled violently. The man standing at the register by the door jumped before taking a deep breath and speaking with the couple that had just walked in. 

“Subtle, as always.” Nino muttered. 

Stifling a laugh with her hand, Alya glanced at him over her menu. “They’re hopeless, I swear. _Both_ of them!”

His eyes met her own over their menus, “even when it comes to each other.” 

Glancing at Adrien and Marinette as they approached, each dressed for work, Alya shook her head. She murmured, “Adrien had better take his eyes off of her ass and watch where he’s going.” 

Nino smirked, “almost run into a chair?”

“The chair, the person in it, and the table with his food on it, all at once.” She glanced back at her menu with a small laugh. 

It was Nino’s turn to stifle a laugh as they came to the table, each reaching to take their seats across from their respective best friend. 

As he sat down, Adrien stressed, “I’m _so_ sorry we’re late! Traffic was bad!”

Eyes focused on the words in front of her, Alya muttered, “I hope you don't drive like you walk.”

“Uh…” Adrien glanced at Nino for clarification, but when none came he looked back at Alya, his face scrunched in confusion. “What?”

"Hmm?" She lifted her eyes from her menu with an innocent expression. 

Marinette shot her a suspicious look, her eyebrow cocked. 

“Well,” Nino started, putting his menu down. “I’m just glad you guys _finally_ showed up. Now maybe the waiter will stop glaring at us for just sitting here for twenty minutes.” 

With a cringe, Marinette spoke up, “it’s my fault you guys. We had to swing by the bakery so I could pick up a new blouse.” She pointed to her chest, “coffee all down the front of me this morning.” 

Gasping in faux awe, Alya brought a hand to her mouth. “No! Not _you_?!” The girl was nothing if not clumsy as hell.

“Yeah, shocker, “ Marinette deadpanned as she rolled her eyes. Reaching for a menu, she asked, “so, Nino mentioned you’re taking over my column space for the magazine?”

“Yup!” Alya put down her menu, having decided what she wanted a while ago. “Marc was looking for something to fill the space and with the negative press Ladybug has been getting lately, I thought I might be able to fill the spot with some pro-hero work.” 

With all the research into Ladybug she had already done, it was an easy gap to fill. Every spare moment Alya had lately was going into digging for information on Paris’ resident hero. It had started as a nervous curiosity the night of the first akuma attack, but had quickly grown into a small obsession. There was so much disconnected information spread all over the globe about the appearance of a woman wearing red with black spots in some way shape or form, she didn’t see how it could be a coincidence. 

Especially when considering that she was only ever spotted in one region of the world at any given time. The sightings of her were fairly linear and could be traced with some ease around the world. Though, the further back you went the larger the gaps between the appearances there was.The most curious thing was that, while it wasn’t true for _every_ area she visited, the red and black spotted woman seemed overwhelmingly to be East Asian. Granted, after a certain point, the reading began to sound a little like myth, or legend, and there had been a couple of different stories of goddesses in different pantheons that even matched the description. 

It wasn’t hard to assume that somehow, the mantle of the Ladybug had been passed down for centuries, maybe even thousands of years. Though how it always managed to be a woman, most of them being an East Asian woman _specifically_ when she was spotted all over the globe, was a little difficult to figure out. 

Alya for a moment had considered that she might be the same woman somehow. But she had pretty quickly written it off after she had found vague accounts from the Trojan war of a red and black woman who was, quote, ‘of a slight build and exotic complexion similar to that of the East Anatolians, but with unlidded eyes, and a face narrowly structured’. Though there were conflicting descriptions of whether or not this was Ajax, a hero who fought alongside Achillies, or was a different person that fought with them who was Ladybug wasn’t clear. 

Going back further than that, she was met with rumors of legends, passed down in oral traditions from East Asia, the Middle East, and Siberia that were so vague and incomprehensible, she wrote them off altogether. 

The last, most coherent mentions of a woman matching Ladybug’s came from the Mongolian records of Genghis Khan’s first wife, Bӧrte. Some accounts had her fighting alongside him in the unification of the Mongolian tribes fighting in an outfit of red with black spots, and Genghis himself in black and green. But there were others that simply had her as a background character with little actual involvement in the fighting herself, so it was hard to be sure. 

But the one consistent detail in even the most vague stories usually had a woman in red and black fighting alongside people who were garbed in black and green. Imagery of Cats and Ladybugs were especially prominent. The imagery combined with the descriptions and color combinations were notable in the stories of Sekhmet in ancient Egypt, Hua Mulan in China, The Trung Sisters in Vietnam, and many others from the ancient world. And then there were the goddesses who seemed to share similar themes to those attributed to Ladybug as well including, Ishtar from Mesopotamia, Shakti in Hinduism, and Sekhmet after her ascension in Egypt, who were the most prominent figures. 

A lot of it was guesswork and some held together only by the vaguest hints, but Alya was working on it nonetheless. It seemed as though Ladybug was a figure which very well could have helped to make humanity what it was today. 

Marinette grinned, “that’s amazing, Alya! She could definitely use a more positive spin than what she’s been getting!”

Nino agreed, grinning at Marinette. “I can’t believe she needs to be defended, but she deserves it.”

Scoffing, Adrien rolled his eyes. “I know right? It’s, _Ladybug_ for god sake! She’s wonderful.”

Nino snorted, “dude, did you really just call her wonderful? That’s some shit my _grandma_ would say.” 

Thoughtfully, as though it just occurred to her, Alya asked, “maybe she _is_ a grandma?”

“Uh…” Marinette looked almost offended at the idea. 

Adrien raised an eyebrow skeptically, “huh?”

And Nino sounded strangely panicked, “wh-why would you think that, babe?!”

Glancing between the three of them, she shook her head. “You three are strange.” Leaning over to grab her bag, she said, “let me grab my notes. I have something I’ve been working on. I just fell down a rabbithole and I’m still falling.” She laughed, “I can’t wrap my mind around it.” 

“Y-” Marinette almost sounded like she gulped, “you mean about, Ladybug?”

“Mhmm,” Alya hummed as she dug through her bag. Suddenly she exclaimed, “aha!” She pulled out a purple notebook in a leather case with a small ornate looking clasp on it. It was her favorite notebook cover and it had been used on dozens since she was in Lycée. “So, I started doing some research the other night, and I ended up looking through records of her for a few hours."

She glanced to see the three of them staring intently at her. Adrien asked, hesitantly, "what did you find out?"

"Well," Alya slid the magnetic clasp back and flipped open the notebook. "First off, looking through dozens of historical accounts from around the world gave me records of a _ton_ of red and black garbed, female heroes, the vast majority being of East Asian descent." 

"That's…" Marinette's eyes widened in surprise, "strange." 

Alya grinned, "what the matter, girl?" She winked, "hiding something?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, "please. You know I'm a bad liar." She went to wave the notion away, but knocked over her water glass as she did. She made a small squeak as she pushed herself away from the table right before the water spilled into her lap. 

As the water dripped onto the floor, Alya laughed, "and that's why I'm not concerned." 

Their waiter was at the table in seconds promising a fresh glass and to bring towels. 

Once he walked away, Alya went on. "Anyway, what's _really_ weird, is that the most recent one? There hasn't been a break in her being East Asian since the eighteen fifties when a Native American woman appears to have been Ladybug." 

“Whoa…” Adrien looked surprised. “So that would make her over one-hundred seventy years old?”

“Can’t imagine living _that_ long,” Nino chuckled, almost nervously, as he nudged Marinette. “What about you, ‘Nette?”

She scoffed loudly, and coughed sheepishly into her hand before agreeing. “That’s a crazy long time!” 

Rolling her eyes, Alya went on. “So, she’s spent a good majority of her life in Paris, right? Well, after I scrolled through some statistics, and did some math, I came to a pretty easy figure that there’s only like eighty people in Paris, max, that could _be_ her.”

Nino choked on his water as she finished speaking, and he spent several seconds trying to swallow his drink while coughing without spitting it everywhere. When the fit subsided, after Marinette smacked his back several times, he looked at Alya. His voice was a frantic whisper as he asked, “you’re trying to _find_ Ladybug?!” 

She shook her head, “no, I was just curious how much I could narrow it down.” Alya shrugged, “besides, I don’t even know how to go about getting access to the records necessary for that.” 

Marinette glanced casually through her menu before glancing up at Alya. There was a wary look in her eye as she asked, “why do you say there’s only eighty possible people? There’s _millions_ of people here.”

“Well,” she turned her notebook, showing the figures she’d collected. “There are almost thirteen million people in the whole Paris metro area, and the divide in males and females is almost straight down the middle.” She pointed to a group of smaller numbers. “France makes it illegal to collect population information by race, so the rest of this is mostly guesswork. But there is an estimated three-hundred twenty-two thousand people of Asian descent living in the city, half of which are thought to be East Asians specifically.” She looked up at her friends. “Follow me so far?”

There were nods from all three of them, Marinette looking especially intently at the numbers. 

Alya continued. “Now, the total Asian population accounts for about zero point zero two five percent of Paris’ total population. But given how old Ladybug is, and how much time she’s spent in France over the years, I think she has to be an immigrant.” She flipped the page, “and being an immigrant seriously brings down that total to one-hundred thirty-four thousand Asian Parisians, sixty-seven thousand of which are East Asians. This means that one-third of all Asians in Paris are immigrants, and about twenty-two thousand one-hundred ten or one-third of them are Chinese. Given that they are the largest grouping, we could probably assume she’s in that category.” Alya took a breath and kept going, “again, given her age, we can lump her into the eighty years and older category, of which, there are only one-hundred ten thousand people total.” She grinned, “Now we get into the math.” 

Spinning her notebook back to herself she found her estimates. “So, if we take the zero point zero two five percent for the total Asian population and apply it to the eighty plus population, that gives us two-thousand seven-hundred fifty people. From there, we take it down to a third of that number for Asian immigrants, giving us nine-hundred seventeen people. After that, we halve it again to get the number of eighty plus East Asian immigrants at four-hundred fifty-eight, a third of that group being chinese would narrow us down to one-hundred fifty-three people. And then we halve it one more time to give us the women only, and we’re left with about seventy-six.” 

Alya closed her notebook with a grin, “If I had access to the right records, I could probably find her in a couple of days.” She slipped her notebook back into her bag. “I mean, how many in that group of seventy-six would still look eighteen and be without a soulmate?” 

The three of them stared back at her like she’d grown another head. 

“Wow…” Adrien looked like he was thinking about something as he shot a glance at Marinette. 

Marinette looked shaken, “holy shit,” she whispered. 

And for some reason, Nino just stared straight ahead toward the kitchen.

Alya shrugged as she went to pick her menu back up, “I mean I could probably make a few calls and get someone to track down those records for me if I _really_ wanted to. But I figure she has enough problems right now, especially after what happened last night.” 

“Oh yeah,” from the corner of her eye, she saw Nino shoot a look at Marinette and Adrien. “Apparently, Ladybug was about to get her ass kicked by Papillon and his friends, but got saved by Shadow Cat, some other guy in black leather, and a rabbit chick.”

Adrien whistled, “sure are a lot of people in skintight bodysuits running around.”

“Yeah,” Marinette chuckled weakly. “Weird things sure are happening lately.”

“No shit,” Nino deadpanned. He suddenly perked up, nuding Adrien’s foot under the table with his. “Oh, dude you never did message me back.” Nino pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “you gonna be able to make the show with us tonight?”

“Oh…” Adrien pulled out his phone and began scrolling before he stopped and stared at something. “The Guerilla Poubelle show, right?” 

Nino nodded.

“I uh-” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking nervous. “I have a thing that runs kind of late. I might miss the opening band, but I should be able to make it for the main show.” 

Marinette grinned at him, “you mean I’ll finally get to see you _not_ dressed like you’re going to church?”

He shrugged easily, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. “Hey, when you look _this_ good? Every day is a religious experience.” 

Alya sighed, muttering under her breath, “clueless.”

...

* * *

…

A smirk tugged at Ladybug’s mouth as Chat Noir landed in a heap across the rooftop from her. If there was one thing that was to be said for having a new partner, breaking them in was always fun, if nothing else. 

Getting to his feet, he rubbed the top of his head before glancing at Ladybug. “Can we take a break?”

She flicked open the face of her yo-yo before nodding, “I suppose.” Ladybug shrugged as she slipped the weapon onto her waist. “I _have_ been tossing you around for an hour.” She hummed thoughtfully as she walked to join him, “I have to leave soon anyways.”

Walking to the edge of the rooftop, Chat sat down, letting his feet dangle over the edge. He kicked them lightly into the air as she sat next to him. “I’ve got plans too.” He smiled at her, “I’m going to-” he suddenly stopped, scrunching his brow before she shook his head.

“What?” She looked curiously at her new partner. 

Chat hummed in his throat as he waved a dismissive hand. “Nothing.”

It was hard to put her finger on what exactly, but she liked this new black cat holder. He was… nice to be around, and she enjoyed his company. Even if he did act skittish as a stray.

Well… the couple of times she’d seen him at least. He was comfortable, and familiar in the way that the black cat was, and he put her at ease. It was probably just being in some sort of harmony with her partner that did it. Creation and Destruction _were_ at their best when they worked in unison. Stealing a glance at Chat, she felt a smile tug at her lips. 

It was nice to have a black cat again.

He turned his head to look at her, and she frantically looked away, feeling like a child getting caught staring at their crush. Ladybug pushed down the nervous butterflies and did her best to ignore that thought as she cleared her throat. From the corner of her eye, she could see him beaming at her. “So, how are you taking to the black cat?”

“I love it!” Chat grinned, “I mean, my kwami is an insatiable cheese gremlin, but he’s great!” He shook his head, “honestly it’s just weird that I can’t really tell anyone about any of this. It’s all incredible.” 

Nodding, Ladybug thought of all the people she’d had to hide her identity from over the years. Lying to people you care about never really got any easier, no matter how much practice you got. “Plagg is a handful,” she laughed. “And I know not being able to share this aspect of your life is hard, but it is necessary.” 

“Actually…” Chat hesitated, and he sounded nervous to speak his mind. “I’ve been wanting to ask you about something that Plagg said the other day.”

“Okay?” She shrugged. As long as the kwami hadn’t blabbed about who she was, she wouldn’t have to kill him. Not that he would. Plagg knew as well as anyone the things that Ladybug had been through with her partners and how hesitant she was to open up to them. She liked to think they were friends, despite seeing each other infrequently the past several centuries. 

“So…” he shrugged, “I get that we can’t tell anyone else about all of this. That much makes sense. My regular life would get even more hectic if people knew I was a superhero to boot. But,” Chat glanced at her, his expression wary. “Plagg said you don’t like to share your identity with your partners?”

Suppressing a groan, Ladybug tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. She didn’t think that this topic would come up so soon. Usually they were just busy getting their feet wet before they thought about anything like this. Subconsciously she blamed Alya after their conversation today. Somehow… this was her fault. “That’s right,” she nodded slowly. She _hated_ having this conversation. 

“Well…” he looked thoughtfully at her. “Why’s the cat got your tongue?” Chat gave a small grin. 

Pushing down a smile, she shook her head. “It’s just… hard, after so many partners.” A sad smile settled on her lips as she tried not to think of all the ones she had pushed away in the last millennium. 

“How uh…” he sounded nervous to finish the question. Finally, Chat asked tentatively, “how many partners have you had?”

The sad smile wouldn’t leave her face as she looked at him, the lights from the city bathing him in their soft glow. “You’d never believe me if I told you.” 

He raised an eyebrow, “try me.” A cocky little grin settled on his lips, “I’m fairly easy to _paw_ suade.” 

“Ugh,” Ladybug groaned even as a smile lit up her face. “Why are you like this?” In truth, it was nice to have a partner who was more lighthearted for once. Most of them tried too hard, did their best to live up to her example, and tried to show off. This one though?

“You mean…” Laying back on the rooftop, Chat spread his arms above his head. “Regal?” He stretched, “graceful?” He shot Ladybug a wink. “ _paw_ fect?”

She grimaced, “you used two paw puns in a row.” A bit of heat rose to her cheeks, and she looked away. The material and fit of his suit only served to accentuate his muscular physique, and she did her best to ignore the sinful thoughts that rose to her mind. 

“Oh,” his face fell, and he tapped his chin in thought. “Does M’lady _wishker_ that I should have a variety of them available?”

A traitorous chuckle rose in her chest even as she rolled her eyes. “God, no.”

Chat sighed, “surely you _must_ be _kitten_ me?”

Ladybug groaned again, even as she laughed, “please, I will tell you _anything_ if you’ll just stop!”

“Aww,” he pushed his lips into a pathetic pout, “you don’t enjoy my witty _panther_?” 

Burying her face in her hands, she groaned as she tried to ignore the butterflies in her chest. Why was this idiot making her nervous? Her voice was muffled by her palms, “it’s been a couple of centuries, _at least_ , since I’ve had a partner who was as annoying as you!” 

Chat sounded satisfied with himself as he replied, “I’ll take that as a _paw_ pliment.” Ladybug removed her hands from her face as his expression suddenly shifted, the playful demeanor gone. “Wait! _At least_ a _couple_ of-?”

A man’s voice from the street startled them both as he called loudly, “Ladybug! There’s another monster on the news!”

Jumping to her feet, she grabbed hold of her yo-yo as she yelled down, “where?” She was thankful for the sudden distraction. She really wasn’t in the mood to get into… _all of that_.

“The sixth! It’s in the gardens, destroying the Luxembourg Palace !” The man sounded frantic and scared. 

Next to her, Chat got to his feet, his joking demeanor gone as he grabbed for his staff.

Ladybug swung her yo-yo and threw it for the nearest catch, “come on Chat, let’s see if we can wrap this up quickly!” 

She saw him give a two-finger salute as they took off across the street, and he called down, “thanks!”

The two quickly made their way across the city to the Gardens of Luxembourg, and even from several blocks away, they could see the smoke rising against the lit Parisian night. Reaching the last buildings before the grounds gave way to trees, Ladybug launched herself off of the rooftop and landed in a crouch amongst the green grove. As she stood, Chat landed next to her and they took off toward the main building. 

The run through the trees was a short one, and breaking through the treeline they caught sight of the smoking and ruined structure of the palace. The roof had collapsed in several places, several of the windows were broken out, massive holes were gaping in the exterior, and half of the top floor of the left wing had fallen in on itself. Smoke poured from several of the holes and they could see fire flickering in the interior. Rubble lay strewn everywhere.

And yet, for all the destruction, it was eerily quiet. The two of them could hear the crackle of the fires that burned inside, and they waited, but nothing happened. 

A voice called from the treeline opposite them, “Ladybug! Oh, Ladybug, I don’t know what happened-” the woman ran toward them, her face streaked with tears, and smelling of smoke. She tripped and fell toward Chat Noir, who caught her easily. He pulled her to her feet, but she only leaned into his, her body quivering as she cried quietly. 

Ladybug watched as Chat rubbed her back, talking quietly to her to try and calm her. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe, shh,” he said as he ran he patted her head lightly. 

She didn’t want to spook her, but they needed to make sure the woman got to safety in case the akuma popped up. Speaking softly, Ladybug asked, “can you tell us what happened? Where the akuma is?”

“It-” the woman hiccuped and stepped away from Chat with deep breath. She gulped heavily, and took a deep breath, her eyes still red with tears. “It was _me_!” She shook her head, “my boyfriend had just broken up with me for one of my friends and I was _so_ angry at _both_ of them!” The woman growled at the memory, “and then… then this voice spoke to me in my head and I just got _filled_ with this overwhelming rage.” She sniffled, “and then the next thing I knew, I was laying in the gravel outside of the palace, and it was…” she gestured toward it, a humorless laugh falling from her mouth, “well. _That_.” 

Chat looked to Ladybug uncertainly as a cold dread seeped into her bones. She swallowed hard, “mademoiselle, I need to know. What happened to the butterfly?” 

The woman looked blindsided by the mundane question. “Uh- well…” she pointed toward the skyline of the city, “I think I saw a white butterfly flying off that way when I woke up?” 

Ladybug closed her eyes and sighed as she tried to keep her frustration under control. When she opened them again she was once again calm and collected. 

Chat put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Do you think you can get home alright?” He pointed from Ladybug to himself. “One of us could take you if you need.” 

She shook her head, “no… no I have my phone thankfully. I might just call a taxi.” She started to turn before she glanced between the heroes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered quietly. 

“Not your fault,” Ladybug croaked. She waved her off, “have a good night, and… I’m sorry your ex and your friend suck.”

She scoffed, “me too.” The woman turned and waved over her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around herself while she walked. 

“Shit,” Ladybug muttered. 

“What?” Chat looked at her, his brows knitted with confusion. “Ladybug, I don’t understand. What happened?” Sirens sounded in the distance, coming for the gardens, no doubt. 

Shaking her head, Ladybug turned to walk toward the nearest bench. She waved for Chat to follow her and as she fell on the bench she groaned. Why couldn’t this ever be easy? “Papillon knows how he can counter my Miracle Cure.” 

“You mean,” Chat waved his hands through the air, fluttering his fingers, “the red swooshy ladybug thing?” 

“Mmhmm,” Ladybug hummed the answer. People were already saying she was holding the city hostage for her vanity. That woman at _Le Monde_ , Lila Rossi, had written another article about their fiasco last night. Video from the people who lived in those apartments had been on the internet almost instantly, and she had pounced. 

What she had against Ladybug, she had no idea. But there were already another couple of people at other papers who were reporting similar things. They were saying she should just give him what he wants since it would be the easiest way to keep the people of Paris safe. 

She could see Chat eyeing her from the corner of her vision, and she raised a hand to rub at her eyes. “How can he do that?” 

Ladybug shrugged, “I mean, ordinarily, it’s impossible, but the Peacock and the Butterfly both have loopholes around it.” She leaned back against the bench as and turned her head toward the sky, watching the stars. “My miracle cure can fix anything caused by miraculous wielders, regardless of how long the damage has been present or who died. But… an amok and akuma are special.” 

She sighed, chewing on the inside of her cheek before she went on. “In order for my miracle cure to work for anything they’ve done, I have to catch the feather or the butterfly to cleanse whatever havoc they’ve wreaked.” Ladybug shrugged, “without it? Nothing happens.” 

Seemingly frozen at her side, Chat asked quietly, “how?” 

“It…” She shook her head. “I don’t really get it. But it needs to have an energy signal to latch onto that links it to a miraculous wielder. The amok and the butterflies, once they’re imbued with purpose by their users, contain that energy signature.” She growled, pushing herself up from the bench and started for the treeline. “And without it, things stay damaged, people stay dead, and Papillon has a serious leg up in this fight.” 

“Wh-where are you going?!” Chat sounded alarmed at her sudden movement. Behind her, she heard him get to his feet. The sirens were close now, and would be there any moment. 

“I’m going to go hit somebody,” Ladybug muttered to herself.To her partner she called over her shoulder, “plans, remember? Goodnight, Chat!” 

She took off into the trees before he could reply. 

…

* * *

…

Landing in an alley a couple of streets from the venue, Marinette called for her transformation to drop. Tikki circled around her head, but didn’t say anything. From the corner of her eye, she could see her kwami looking at her worriedly. 

Finally, Tikki said, “it’s okay, Marinette. We’ll figure this out.” 

She sighed, “honestly, Tikki? I don’t want to think about it right now.” She halfheartedly threw her hands up in disgust. “It’s just one more thing on the pile.” 

Closing her eyes, she massaged the bridge of her nose between her fingers. The action always helped when she felt a headache coming on. Images of Chat Noir and Adrien floated through her mind, of her new partner sprawled out on the rooftop, his beautiful eyes tinted green by the mask staring up at her. Marinette thought of the magazine she kept hidden in her drafting table’s cabinet, the spread inside, and the comparison of the real Adrien that she saw every day at work. 

As desire rose in her, she quickly banished the memories, and shook her head. She just needed someone to fuck her, then maybe she could think straight for once. 

It usually helped when she felt this overwhelmed. 

Opening her eyes, she found Tikki staring at her with a small smirk. 

“What?” Marinette quirked her brow. 

Tikki replied in a singsong voice, “someone’s thinking of Adrien~.”

Rolling her eyes, Marinette tried to smother an embarrassed grin. “Shut up,” she murmured. She opened her leather jacket and Tikki flew inside to the interior pocket. Marinette never carried her purse to a show. 

Going into the venue, she flashed her ticket at the guy at the door and headed for the bathroom. After using the facilities, she checked herself out in the mirror. The sides of her head were freshly shaved down to a thin stubble, with the top portion styled into a mohawk with a good layer of hair gel, spray, and super glue. After several different attempts in the eighties, she’d realized nothing ever quite held the look together like superglue. Back then, they didn’t actually make it for hair though, so she and everyone she knew had just used modeling glue. As much as it worked, it also was murder on her hair. 

These days though, there was product for that, and she liked her hair too much to damage it further. 

She’d dug out her old leather jacket, the patches worn from the thirty odd years it had been since she’d sewn them on, but they looked good nonetheless. Zippers abounded across the old thing, hiding several pockets that reminded her of Chat Noir’s suit. It still fit like a glove. She’d punched dozens of studs in the thing, and they dotted it from the shoulder, down her arms, and across her back, edging around the large [Misfits skull](https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2012/01/Misfits.jpg) patch that dominated the back. Down the arms were a half dozen patches of varying sizes, each for different bands. Bikini Kill and the Dead Kennedys were at the top spot on either shoulder. 

Her shirt was a white Mon Autre Groupe tank top she had picked up a couple of years ago. It was just a little too large, as they’d already sold out of her size when she’d gotten it, and the hem fell down around mid thigh. Her pants were black skinny jeans with rips and tears across them, the knee on the left side shredded wide open. 

Marinette’s look was completed by her black steel toed combat boots, laced tightly over her jeans. They had saved her feet from getting crushed in more than one mosh pit and a few scuffles over the years. 

She finished washing her hands and made her way to the floor of the large auditorium and looked for her friends. Nino and Alya were supposed to be meeting her there, and she’d checked her phone in the bathroom to find a message saying they were already inside. 

From somewhere to her right, she heard her name yelled and she looked to see the pair waving to get her attention. Marinette pushed through the throng of people were already there, and managed to make her way to them fairly easily. 

Alya was the first to get a look at her and let out a whistle, “damn, girl! You look _good!_ ”

“Thanks,” she ginned. They’d gone to a few shows together before, but they had never quite matched her gusto to dress for the occasion. As rough a time as the eighties and nineties had been for her, what she could remember, she’d had fun and liked to indulge in the memory of her aesthetic from those years when she could. 

The three of them made smalltalk for a half and hour or so, the house music making the time pass quickly. Finally the curtains parted, and a stage crew started setting up instruments on stage. But when the bass drum was brought out with the opening bands logo emblazoned on it, Nino suddenly exclaimed, “Oh no way!” 

He sounded surprised, and Marinette turned to look at what he was talking about. 

Next to her, Alya gasped, “I didn’t know Kitty Section was playing tonight!”

As the opening band took the stage, Marinette stared in surprise at the outfits the four of them wore. The pauldrons, the masks, everything were her designs! She pointed a finger at the band. “I made their outfits!” 

Alya laughed, “are you serious?”

A few chords were plucked experimentally as the band tuned their instruments, and a tall man with teal hair poking out of his half mask grabbed the microphone. “Is everybody ready to have a rainbow blow out of their asses?!” A massive cheer went up from the front of the crowd as the house music abruptly shut off. 

“A few years back! That’s…” Marinette wracked her brain for the teal guy’s name. “Like… Lucas or something, right?” She remembered thinking he was kind of cute.

“Close enough!” Nino called over the din. 

“It’s Luka!” Alya yelled as the tall girl with purple streaks in her hair plucked a few experimental chords. “Girl,” she shook her head, “we went to school with all of these guys!” 

Suddenly, Nino fired an arm over their shoulders to point at the stage. “There’s a keyboard up there!”

“Uh…” Marinette glanced between them, “what’s so exciting about a keyboard?” It was cool that they went to school with the people in this band but… her friends seemed overly hyped.

On stage, Luka pulled the mic from the stand and another cheer went up from the crowd. He raised a hand and they fell silent, waiting for him to speak. “For those of you who don’t know us, we’ll make some quick introductions!” He walked to the tall girl, his steps all swagger. “This is my sister, and our bassist,” he held out the microphone to her. 

Purple girl leaned forward, her quiet voice a sultry purr, “Kitty Purry.” She struck a couple of chords, the heavy bass reverberating throughout the room. A cheer went up again as she did. 

“Juleka,” Alya whispered in Marinette’s ear.

Walking to the smaller girl in the pink dress, Luka grinned. “My sister’s girlfr- excuse me!” He chuckled, “my sister’s **fiance**!” The crowd lost their minds for a moment, before Luka raised his hand, the cheers settling quickly. “She also happens to be our lead singer!” He offered her the mic, and she leaned into it. 

Her high, adorable, voice rang out clearly, “Cat Benetar!” She winked and leaned down to blow a kiss at the crowd, and another cheer came. 

“Rose,” Alya whispered again. 

Making his way to the back of the stage, Luka gestured with his free hand to the large man in red sitting at the drum kit. “Back here, you may have noticed our drummer hiding out!” The big man kept a steady drumroll going as Luka came to him, and only stopped when he offered him the mic. 

His deep voice rang out, “Stevie Whisker!” He smashed his cymbals with his drumsticks, earning another scream of approval from the crowd.

"Ivan," Alya muttered excitedly.

Bringing the mic back to the stand, Luka put a hand to his chest. "And I of course, am Paul McKittney on guitar!" One more wave of enthusiasm rolled in from the floor as Luka fired off a quick riff. 

"Wait…" Marinette looked over the four of them. "But… I designed five outfits for them." 

Behind her, Nino shouted, "the keyboardist!"

Luka pointed into their dark section. "Somebody noticed!" He laughed, "that's right! We've got our _sometimes_ keyboardist with us tonight! He hasn't played a show with us in almost a year!" 

The crowd booed, and Marinette couldn't help but wonder if this band had some sort of etiquette she didn't know she should be following. 

Raising his hand for quiet, Luka continued as the crowd died down. "I know, I know. But he's a busy man! Just took over his family business, and is up to his ears in extracurriculars!" He shrugged, "we couldn't get him to tear himself away for our tour in a couple months." He pointed to someone on the opposite side of the stage. “Thankfully, our lovely manager, Alix, was able to work something out for tonight."

There were several excited yells and woops from the crowd.

Luka continued, "give it up for, Meowzart!" From stage right, the last band member walked out to take his place behind the keyboard to thunderous applause. 

Even in the ridiculous getup he wore, Marinette recognized him. His blonde hair stuck out at all angles from behind his mask, but that dopey grin couldn't be anyone else's. "No way," she gasped in disbelief. 

Behind her, Alya and Nino lost their fucking minds, screaming in unison, "ADRIEN!"

Even as Rose took her place at the mic, Marinette still found herself staring dumbly after Adrien. For a moment, she thought they might have locked eyes, but then Luka started plucking a fast, heavy beat. The other members started in and then Rose opened her mouth, and her small sweet voice came out a deep rasp as she sang the opening lyrics in a haunting vibrato. 

Closer to the stage, she could see a mosh pit forming, and turned to her friends who were screaming the song being played. She pointed toward the pit, and they both nodded before she took off. Being Ladybug was one thing, but the adrenaline high of thrashing against a bunch of other sweaty flailing people to fast music was a different thing altogether. 

That and after the last few days, and tonight’s new revelation, she _needed_ the release the mosh pit offered. 

Pushing her way forward, Marinette made it to the pit and was immediately caught in a wave and thrown in. She stumbled forward, catching herself against some guys back, and shoved him forward as she regained her balance. Shoulders pushed her to the left and right, and people bobbed up and down as they fell, only to reemerge a few seconds later. 

It wasn’t even the end of the first song before Marinette found herself falling to the floor. A flurry of pink hair caught her eye as she went down, and a hand was already wrapped around her wrist to pull her to her feet. As she came back up, the hand let go, and Marinette just caught sight of the pink haired girl who’d pulled her up, her blue eyes fixed on Marinette for a moment before she was swept away by the churning crowd. 

No matter where she went in the pit, she kept catching sight of the pink haired girl, their eyes meeting one another. Everytime they locked eyes, Marinette felt like she was being undressed with her eyes and… well… it was kind of hot. She felt her heart pick up every time they made eye contact, and after a few tracks, Marinette started looking for her.

After several songs, there was a small break between them, and the energy in the mosh died down for a moment. She wiped at her sweaty brow with the back of her hand, her chest heaving with deep breaths. Marinette’s eyes landed on Adrien, and she still couldn’t believe that he was up there. Suddenly, he was looking a whole lot more like her type. 

Like he wasn’t already?

Something brushed Marinette’s hand, tearing her attention away from the stage, and she looked to her right to find the girl there. Right as she opened her mouth, a heavy riff from the stage started, and Rose’s heavy vocals kicked in as the mosh pit suddenly moved in a wave. Pink-haired girl lost her balance, got shoved directly at Marinette, and her head whipped forward into Marinette’s face. 

There was a thump against her back, and all she could see were stars. Her face felt slick, and she tasted metal. Something pulled on her arms, and her body vibrated as the music roared in her ears like a jet engine. 

Marinette’s vision began to clear as she realized she was being half-carried away from the stage and toward the bar. “Wha-?” 

A frantic voice from near her ear sounded, “fuck! I’m so fucking sorry!” She realized that it must be whoever was carrying her. The only thing that kept Marinette from freaking out was that it was a woman’s voice, and she could see pink strands of sweat-slicked hair from out of the corner of her eye. 

At least it was a cute chick that had knocked her out. 

That was a bright side? 

Right?

“Jesus fucking Christ,” cute girl muttered to herself as she deposited Marinette on a stool. “Marie!” She waved a hand, trying to flag down the nearest bartender. The woman looked toward her and almost looked away again before doing a double-take. She hurried down to them pretty quickly after she got a good look at Marinette’s no doubt bloodied face. 

As the woman arrived she was shaking her head in disbelief. “Christ, Alix, what the hell?” 

The pink-haired girl- Alix?- scoffed, “oh, you know? Trying to sweep somebody off their feet and knocking them flat on their ass.” 

“Impeccable game, as always” Marie snorted with laughter. “Be right back!” She placed a stack of napkins between them and walked away shaking her head. 

Grabbing a fist full of napkins, Pink hai- _Alix_ , looked at Marinette with a grimace. “Shit, I am _so_ fucking sorry.” She made to dab at Marinette’s face only to freeze halfway. “Uh… do you mind if I-?” She made a wiping motion in the air. 

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh, the vibration through her skull making her head ache, and she winced. With a gulp she nodded, “you can see it better than me,” she called back. 

Was this really fucking happening? 

Hesitantly, she started wiping at Marinette’s upper lip, and made a slow circle, dabbing around her mouth. The music pounded in the background. Alix hummed. “So uh… I’m Alix.”

Marinette smirked, “so I heard.” She grabbed her bottom lip with her front teeth and pulled it tight as Alix struggled to wipe it clean.

It occurred to Marinette that the name was one she had heard earlier. As she released her lip, she asked, "wait. Like, the band's manager?"

"Yeah," she nodded. “Believe it or not,” Alix laughed, “this isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened when I was trying to flirt with someone.” 

Snorting out a laugh that made her vision vibrate, Marinette nodded. “Just a useless lesbian through and through then, huh?” 

Smiling sheepishly, Alix nodded back, her cheeks turning red. “Got me there.”

There was something about Alix, she wasn't sure what, but Marinette trusted her. She liked that she was so brazen and forward in her intentions. It was exciting, and she felt her heartbeat pick up a bit as she admitted to trying to flirt with her. The looks she had gotten from the taller girl all night had her hoping she would come see her.

While Adrien was a fun thought, their lives were already entangled enough, and her feelings were too muddled with him. She felt too strongly for him, and it was scary. This girl though? There was a physical attraction Marinette couldn’t help but be aware of between them, and that was something she knew what to do with. If nothing else she could help to distract her from the butterflies Adrien gave her. 

Tentative feeling was nice, but being openly and unabashedly desired was a high of its own.

And with Papillon’s discovery that he could counter her Miracle Cure, she _needed_ a distraction. 

Taking a deep breath, Marinette blinked, hoping to clear her vision, and offered a smile. “I’m Marinette.” She breathed a small laugh, “and believe it or not,” she reached for Alix’s hand and gently grasped it, bringing the woman’s knuckles to her lips. “It is nice to meet you.” She locked eyes with Alix who seemed to freeze in her stool, her breath suddenly shallow as Marinette pressed her lips to her hand. 

A throat cleared from across the bar making them both jump, and Marinette dropped her hand. 

Marie stared them both down for a moment, her tone flat as she said, “no fucking at the bar, ladies.” She set an ice pack and a glass of water on the bar in front of them and smirked. “I’m going back to work.” She glanced from one to the other as she walked away. “Behave.”

The two watched her walk away before their attention shifted back to one another. On stage, the last song of Kitty Section’s set was ending, and Rose was thanking their fans for coming to see them. Marinette pressed the ice pack to the back of her head while Alix dipped a few napkins in the glass of water and began gently wiping at the dried blood that ringed Marinette’s mouth. Her eyes flicked back to Marinette’s every few seconds, and each one felt like a hit of adrenaline in her system. 

Alix’s strokes were slow and deliberate as she cleaned the blood away, and her other hand seemed to absentmindedly trace the outline of Marinette’s lips as the blood came free. 

When she was done, their eyes stayed locked, their fingers hovering near each other. “Thanks.” Marinette laughed under her breath, glancing toward the ground. “You know, I uh-" she tugged nervously at her bottom lip. “I’ve never been good at being told what to do.” She looked up to find Alix staring at her with heavy lidded eyes, her mouth open slightly as she breathed deeply. 

Alix’s hand brushed the top of her’s, her fingers lightly dragging their way around to her palm. Hooking against the edges of her hands, she gave Marinette a small pull toward her, and she eagerly followed to the edge of her seat. Alix’s fingers slid up to her wrist, and drew small circles on her forearm.“Yeah?” She nodded, her tongue just visible between her cracked lips as it passed over the edge of her teeth. “Me neither.” 

Marinette balanced on the edge of her stool as Alix’s hand cupped her cheek and she leaned in to kiss her.

…

* * *

…

Once he had gotten his performance outfit off and changed into his street clothes, Adrien took a look in the mirror. He still had his makeup from the show on, but he wasn’t going to waste any more time than he had to before getting out to his friends. He wanted to actually see them before the next act came out. 

Hopping in place and watching his sweaty locks bounce off of his forehead for a second, he grinned stupidly at himself in the mirror. Adrien couldn’t help it. The high of having played a show was still coursing through him, and he was living for it. It was nice to have some kind of adrenaline rush that didn’t involve being hit by another person. 

That it was even something he would find having a preference for to be a realistic scenario had his head a little messed up. 

He was a fucking _superhero_. 

It was his job to keep people _safe_. 

On top of his normal, significantly more pedestrian job of running a multinational, multimillion dollar company. 

Who would have thought that would suddenly become the least interesting thing about him?

After how the last couple of days as Chat Noir had gone, he was just grateful for the chance to do something with Kitty Section. Tomorrow would be an ordeal unto itself when he and Ladybug met again, but for now? He felt good. 

A hand settled on his shoulder, bringing him back to the moment in which he was still hopping up and down. 

In front of the mirror.

In the dressing room he was sharing with the rest of Kitty Section. 

Luka grinned at him in the reflection and he found himself grinning back and stopped hopping. Adrien had always liked Luka, nevermind the fact that they had dated for a bit. Seeing him for the first time in several months made him want to start hopping all over again. 

“Thanks for playing with us, Adrien.” His easy melodic voice soothed Adrien’s nerves and made him just want to snuggle up to the man on a couch. But, Luka just had that effect on people. “Sure we can’t talk you into coming on tour with us?” He grinned, “we’d love to have you!” 

“I knoooow,” Adrien droned. He finally turned to actually look at Luka. “I wish I could, but I can’t step away for that long.” He rolled his eyes, “the board of directors are a bunch of sharks. If I leave them for even a week, they’ll try to wrest control of the company away from me.” He shrugged, “and I need to keep them in line.”

“What about weekends?” Hope sparkled in Luka’s eyes. “I’m sure that Agreste money could afford you a plane ticket to come and play with us now and then?” He grinned mischievously. 

If it wasn’t for his new responsibility of being Chat Noir, he’d have said yes in a heartbeat. It was hard for Adrien to say no to Luka for any reason. 

Especially when he looked at him like that. 

Feeling his cheeks flush a little, Adrien looked down at his feet, and he grabbed Luka’s hand where it still rested on his shoulder. He shook his head, his throat thick with regret for the denial he had to give. “I’m sorry, Luka. I’d love to.” He met the man’s eyes, framed by teal locks that hung perfectly on either side. His stylist was good. “But I have other obligations I need to be here for.” Adrien squeezed his hand, hoping he would understand. 

From across the room, Juleka called, “barf!” Rose giggled from where she reclined on her fiance’s lap. “Even _we_ aren’t gaying up the place as much as you two!”

“Glad someone said it,” Ivan laughed from where he rubbed makeup remover over his smudging kohl liner. 

Rose nodded, “we just spent the last ten minutes making out, and somehow there’s _way_ more sexual tension on that end of the room!”

Adrien spared his bandmates a quick self-conscious glance, though Luka didn’t even seem to acknowledge them. 

“Ah well,” Luka smiled sadly. “Had to try one more time.” He turned Adrien’s hand, bringing it to his lips and gently kissed his knuckles. “I’ll miss you.” 

“Again,” Juleka groaned. “Barf!”

Ignoring her, Adrien ran his fingers through Luka’s hair, gently pulling him forward. His lips pressed against the back of Luka’s hand, Luka’s lips still lightly touching his own. They locked eyes for a moment, and an electricity passed between them that made Adrien want to go further. 

But he knew he couldn’t. 

They’d tried a couple of different times, but things in their lives just never seemed to line up properly. They’re schedules were polar opposites, and even when they were together one was almost always fast asleep when the other was free. The timing was just never right for them. And after Kitty Section started touring, it only became even more of an issue. 

That still didn’t change the fact that there had always been an undeniable chemistry between the two of them. 

“Ugh,” Adrien could see Ivan grimace at them as they pulled apart, their fingers still lingering entwined between them. “Can you two just go fuck or something? This is getting gross.” 

“Agreed!” Juleka called. 

“I third that!” Rose giggled. 

Again, Adrien chose to ignore them as he muttered, “I’ll miss you too.” 

Luka’s eyes lingered on his for a long moment as his finger drew small circles on Adrien’s knuckles. 

If he and Luka had been soulmates, it might have been different. They would have found a way to make it work. But they didn’t have that overwhelming desire to be with one another that people who were soul bonded were supposed to have. They were comfortable around each other, craved one another physically, and there was an easy passion that drew them to one another. 

They might not see each other much, but they were great friends too, and they enjoyed a close intimacy that not a lot of people got. Sure, from the outside looking in, it looked like a friends with benefits scenario. Maybe it was? But whatever there was between them, they enjoyed their connection. They didn’t have to think about it too much. It was comfortable. 

It just was. 

But they’d never made a strong commitment because that universal nudge had never been present. And as much as they meant to one another, they weren’t the kind of people who would want to spend a few decades together in ageless bliss, only to have it shattered by a soul partner’s appearance. 

Finally, Adrien pulled his fingers away. “I need to go find Alya and Nino,” he said quietly. A part of him hated pulling away from Luka like that, but it was time to go. 

Nodding, Luka shoved his hands in his pockets with a shrug. “‘Kay.” He smiled, “it was good seeing you, Adrien.” He sighed through his nose, that easy smile still painted on his face. He looked like he was savoring the moment. “I’ll call or message you some time when I’m thinking about you.” 

Adrien chuckled, knowing neither of them would actually do that even half the times they thought of one another. But he nodded in agreement nonetheless. “I’ll look forward to it.” He sidled toward the door, “bye you guys. Thanks again for letting me play tonight!” He offered a small wave to the room. “It was fun.” 

Similar sentiments echoed around the room as he left, and a part of him felt sad to be leaving that space they shared. Hanging with Kitty Section always left him feeling listless for the liminal space they seemed to create wherever they went. Those four were special to him, and Adrien loved spending time in their company. 

Making his way to the floor, he looked around the milling crowd from his elevated position on the stairs for a moment. Finally, he spotted Alya’s bushy hair over the crowd and made his way toward them. When he was close enough that Nino spotted him, his friend waved him down, a large grin spreading across his face. 

“Hey, guys.” He smiled easily, most of the post-show adrenaline having left his system after spending those moments with Luka. The boy put him at ease way too quickly. 

“Yo, Adrien!” Nino held out his fist and he bumped it, “you were fuckin’ awesome!” 

Hair bouncing as she nodded, Alya agreed. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you perform with them again.” 

Rubbing the back of his neck he looked toward his shoes. “Yeah, well it was a rough week. I needed the time with them for a change.” 

Nino scoffed, nudging him in the ribs. “Time with Luka, you mean.” 

He rolled his eyes, and looked between the two of them. “Where’s Marinette?” He’d been excited to see her after not being able to at work the last couple of days. Even though seeing her would give him the jitters and ruin his Luka-high, he was okay with it. “I thought she was coming with you guys?”

“Shit,” Nino groaned. 

“What?” He glanced between the couple again. 

Alya grinned back at him. “He bet me you would be able to go a whole minute before asking about her.” She chuckled evilly, “you made it twenty seconds.” 

Adrien felt his cheeks warm and he laughed, hoping to deflect their scrutiny. “I-I just thought she’d be here is all.” 

Nino shook his head. “She was in the mosh pit and Alix accidentally headbutted her to the ground during your last song.” He pointed toward the bar with a small laugh. “She’s at the bar getting- uh… oh.” 

Following Nino’s finger, Alya facepalmed as she muttered, “ugh, _girl_.”

“Wha-?” Adrien turned to look at where he was pointing. 

Marinette was standing with her back pressed against the bar, her fingers tangled in Alix’s short pink hair. She was pinned at the thigh by Alix’s longer legs with one arm around her lower back. The taller girl held her tightly as their lips moved in unison. Marinette’s legs were spread just a little too wide for her to be balancing on her own, and had one foot propped on the foot rail at the bars base. Marinette seemed to be leaning heavily into Alix as the tall girl’s other arm was moving in a subtle up and down motion that had her tricep flexing and relaxing rapidly. 

Adrien couldn’t tell for certain from this angle, but it looked like… “So… Marinette’s bi, huh?” Something between jealousy and disappointment rose in his chest at the sight of them together. 

With his jaw hanging open, Nino blinked as he stared after them. “Yeah, Adrien.” He nodded, “yeah she is.” 

A cheer rose from the crowd and the house lights dimmed as Guerilla Poubelle finally took the stage. 

At the bar, the pair suddenly seemed to remember where they were. Marinette grasped Alix’s hand tightly and pulled her into the crowd, pushing herself quickly toward the front and back to where the mosh pit would form. 

Her outfit would have knocked Adrien for a loop if it hadn’t been the most surprising thing he had seen from her that evening. 

As she ran by, Marinette caught sight of her friends and her flushed cheeks turned redder still. She smiled sheepishly as she ran by, avoiding looking at Adrien. 

Trailing behind her, eyes fixed on Marinette’s hips, Alix was grinning as she slowly pulled her finger from her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s Alix! :D You may now proceed to throw things at me ;P 
> 
> I totally didn’t mean to make this chapter so cat pun heavy, but I’m not sorry I did lol
> 
> What did you think of their lunch? Alya just… dropping facts as Marinette and Nino panic and Adrien has a minor existential crisis. Omg and I had to include the math I did there (hopefully it’s right!) because I spent a lot of time looking up Paris’ population statistics and trying to work that out. It just hit me that, with the right figures, you could narrow down who Ladybug could be in no time xD Whether or not France actually lets it’s citizens access those kinds of records though, I have no idea. Let me know if you know!
> 
> But, how about Ladybug’s Miracle Cure not working?? :O Surely _that_ won’t have any dire implication for the plot going forward!
> 
> What did you think of Gabriel and Nathalie’s relationship? I actually had a lot of fun exploring that one.
> 
> Did anyone else enjoy my Gabriel/Nathalie section? Cause reading back over it when I was editing I realized how much I really liked it, and _them_ specifically. Like… I rarely ever like them, even when they’re given redemption arcs, but I think I accidentally made myself feel for and like them xD Is that just me?
> 
> Am I just narcissistic and love my own writing? :P
> 
> Oh and you know what’s really funny? Alix and Marinette? Totally intended to do that. Integral to the plot, and something I’ve never shipped before, but just kind of happened and I’ve been rolling with. Although, they were only supposed to make out... Alix didn’t want to behave with that, clearly. 
> 
> That Luka x Adrien bit toward the end? That shit just happened. Luka popped up and one thing led to another and I was just sitting here like, ‘oh THAT’S ya’ll’s relationship?! That’s gay as hell… and I LOVE it!!! <3’
> 
> I’ve seriously never been a Lukadrien shipper but… suddenly I get it. Those two just fucking gel, man, and I’m H E R E for it! :D 
> 
> One of my favorite authors [Mikauzoran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikauzoran/pseuds/Mikauzoran) (who is a total sweetie and is incredible and I love her writing SO much and seriously go check her out because her writing is gorgeous!) writes a lot of Lukadrien stuff and, tbh I’ve never been super into it before. Mostly because I’ve been desperately hoping and praying that she’ll update ‘The Rejects Club’ because I NEED CLOSURE. 
> 
> But now? I’mma check that shit out, cause the little bit I have read, I’m pretty sure influenced their relationship here heavily. 
> 
> Looking at her works I’m realizing now exactly how behind on her stuff I am and I am going to fall down a rabbithole of her work because ugh… it’s the _good_ shit, you guys. Seriously, her work doesn’t get the attention it deserves and I would implore you to give her a read. 
> 
> A few of her stories I’m especially fond of are: ‘First and Second Choice’ it’s great and gets a smidge steamy ; ) It seriously made me into the Marichat trash I am today. ‘I Would Give You Some Violets’ is beautiful and legit made me cry <3 ‘There’s A Daisy’ is heartbreaking and perfect (also I wrote a side work for it that relates to a mentioned outing between chapter 21 and 22 >.>). And finally, ‘The Rejects Club’ is SO goddamn good and frustrating, tender, and beautiful, and heartrending all at once and it’s been on hiatus for almost a year with promises that it will get done someday. And like… I’m dying inside every day there isn’t an update. 
> 
> But it’s cool. It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine! :D
> 
> Oh and if you guys want to follow me on [Tumblr](https://transientpokemonmaster.tumblr.com/), there’s the link. I mostly just shitpost, but there's some gay shit, cute shit, and I post about my kid and my life occasionally too. 
> 
> Speaking of which, Happy Pride month!!! :D <3
> 
> So… if you’re into that hot mess, I’m there xD Drop me an ask or a message and I’ll probably reply ^.^ Probably. I’m shit at messaging people back ^.^;
> 
> I was going to post my math, but I went over the character limit for end notes lol oops.
> 
> Anywho!
> 
> I’m giving up on even pretending I can keep these chapters under 10k words, and because of that, they’ll be out when they’re out *shrug*. Sorry I can’t do better on that guarantee lol
> 
> Next chapter, we’ve got: Morning after shenanigans, Adrinette awkwardness, Alya v Lila in the publication games, and Gabriel and Nathalie are playing the long game. 
> 
> Until then, check out Mikauzoran, follow me on Tumblr if you’re a tasteless fool, and I’ll see ya’ll where I see you <3


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